Kirklees Youth Council Grant Scheme (Winter 2013) · PDF file · 2013-09-04Kirklees...

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Huge recognition goes to:

Grant Scheme

Kirklees IYCE Programme

Brian Jackson House

New North Parade

Huddersfield

HD1 5JP

March 2013

Kirklees Youth Council

Grant Scheme

(Winter 2013)

INTRODUCTION:

Young people led grant schemes are not a new approach to identifying and funding

projects and activities that meet the needs of young people in Kirklees. In fact, over

the years the IYCE team have developed and managed a number of long-term grant

schemes for both children and young people in Kirklees.1 All of these had different

criteria but shared the same common philosophy – that children/ young people were

able to come up with their own project ideas which met their needs and that their

‘peers’ would be responsible for making the decisions about which projects would be

funded.

Due to the end of many funding streams, there are currently no such young people

led grants schemes in Kirklees. However, the need for activities and projects that

meet their needs still exists.

This report aims to give a brief outline of the Kirklees Youth Council (KYC) Grant

Scheme, an overview of the projects funded, key emerging messages and

recommendations for the future. It also aims to provide some insight into the

creative ways young people have identified as how their needs can be met.

1 Such as Kids Count, MAC (Make A Change), YOF (Youth Opportunities Fund) and YCF (Youth Capital Fund)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to all of the Youth Councillors who contributed to the success of this

grant scheme. Their involvement has been instrumental from the conception right

through to the distribution of funds.

Special thanks to:

Afsha Munir Tim Potter Matthew Levene

who formed the grant panel.

Also a big thank you to all of the young people who took the time out to apply for

funding and the adults/ organisations that supported them.

1

BACKGROUND:

In 2011, KYC led a consultation project for the Kirklees Children’s Trust to support the

development of a young people’s priority for the Children & Young People Plan

(CYPP). Almost 700 young people aged 11-19 were asked what their main priorities

for change were. They identified their top priority as Money, Jobs and Opportunities.

This was subsequently adopted by the Children’s Trust Board and incorporated into

the Kirklees CYPP which was a huge accolade as it was the first time ever that a

priority identified by young people in Kirklees was recognised and subsequently

incorporated into a high profile working document such as the CYPP.

A recent evaluation of the KYC identified many successes alongside some areas for

further development. One of the areas for development was giving the Youth

Councillors more credibility by enabling them to make some financial decisions

through the creation of a small young people’s grant scheme. Funding a grant

scheme in Kirklees would also enable local and national strategic priorities and

agendas such as Positive for Youth and Kirklees CYPP to be met.

In 2012, cabinet agreed that a total fund of £3,000 would be made available to fund a

young people’s grant scheme which would be managed by KYC and by November

2012 the KYC grant scheme was launched in Kirklees.

2

AIM OF GRANT SCHEME:

In response to young people’s growing concern around Money, Jobs, & Opportunities,

the aim was to create a grant scheme that would fund project ideas from groups of

young people aged between 13 to 19 years who live in Kirklees, to improve young

people’s skills and experience relevant to their future employment or financial well-

being.

Clear criteria were set which allowed groups of young people to apply for up to £500

to help them lead, organise and deliver activities/projects in their own local area that

would promote economic well-being amongst them and their peers. Applications

received were judged against a set list of criteria by members of Kirklees Youth

Council (KYC) who were responsible for making the decisions about what projects

would be funded and how much funds each would be awarded. They formed the

‘Grant Panel’ and met several times to review the applications and make funding

decisions.

The overall aim of the grants process was to identify and fund projects that would

best meet young people’s needs to improve their future prospects in terms of

Money, Jobs & Opportunities.

“This scheme was set up to encourage and

enable young people to put together the kind of

projects that they wanted and needed to improve

their skills for the future workplace. It also gave

them valuable decision-making experience in

choosing which of the projects received the

funding to go ahead.”

Cllr Mahboob Khan (Leader of the Council)

3

METHODOLOGY:

Previous experience of running young people’s grant schemes provided a solid

framework in which to design the process for this new grant scheme. Many of the

previous elements of the grant process were replicated and some updated to make it

easier for young people to apply.

Key Stakeholders:

A number of key stakeholders were involved along the grant process. These were

made up of both adults and young people such as:

Local young people applying for funding

Young people from KYC who made up the grants panel

Young people’s organisations from both the Voluntary & Statutory sector

IYCE Team

KYC as a whole

Kirklees Schools

Elected members

4

Grant Process:

The design and implementation of the grant scheme involved several stages as

outlined below:

Promotion:

Reflecting on previous experience of running a grants scheme, it was important to

promote the scheme not only internally to council services and schools but also

externally to third sector organisations; who had been under represented in previous

grant schemes. It was also particularly important to receive representation from a

diverse group of young people in terms of demographics, ethnicity, disability etc.

With this in mind, a wide range of established groups/ organisations who work with

young people were targeted Kirklees wide via Voluntary Sector networks such as VAK

(Voluntary Action Kirklees), school council networks, internal IYSS area teams etc.

Notices and application packs were sent out electronically to known groups and also

upon request to young people and adults supporting young people.

OCT 2012

DEVELOPMENT & PROMOTION

Youth Councillors helped develop the

application pack and then information about grant scheme released

and interest invited.

NOV 2012

APPLICATION PROCESS

KYC Grant Scheme launched. Application

packs sent out and support to develop

project ideas offered to

groups.

JAN 2013

Application process

closed

FEB 2013

DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Volunteers from KYC trained up to become the ‘Grant Panel’ who

then met to go through applications and make

funding decisions.

MAR – APR 2013

FUNDING PROJECTS

Successful groups informed of amount awarded. Contract

forms sent out to be signed and returned.

APR 2013 – ONWARDS

FOLLOW UP

Funding released to groups. Groups visited

and supporting evidence gathered.

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Young people were also targeted directly through social networking mechanisms

such as Facebook and Twitter.

Application Process:

The application pack was aimed at young people aged between 13-19 years. It

comprised of two easy to read documents: an Application Form (Appendix 1) and

Criteria Booklet (Appendix 2). These worked together to enable the young applicants

to simply and independently complete the form filling process and gave clear and

concise tips on how each section should be completed. The criteria booklet provided

applicants with a breakdown of all the criteria which needed to be met in order to

submit a correctly completed application.

Both documents were available in printed and PDF formats. For the first time, young

people could also access an electronic version and submit their applications online

through the Kirklees Council and KYC websites.

The applications had to be completed by the young people and returned before the

closing date. Each application had to be supported by an adult with access to an

organisational bank account.

Decision Making Process:

A small group of young people from KYC volunteered to take part in the grant scheme

by becoming the Young People’s Grant Panel. Their role was to methodically go

through the applications received from local young people. Applications received

were judged against a set list of criteria (Appendix 2) by the grants panel. The panel

met several times to review the applications and were responsible for making the

decisions about what projects would be funded and how much funds each would be

awarded.

A decision was made at the beginning of the process to award funds to as many

projects as possible. This meant that the grants panel had to go through each of the

applications checking all of the quotes given for equipment, suggesting cheaper

alternatives and looking for creative ways in which money could be saved.

6

Due to the number of applications received, rather than rejecting applications for

initially not meeting one or two of the criteria, it was decided to offer applicants the

opportunity to revise their project idea. They were given suggestions on how their

projects could be changed or improved to meet the necessary criteria required for

funding.

Funding Projects:

Following the decision making process, each of the successful projects were

contacted and informed of the amount they were awarded. Before funds could be

released, each had to sign and return a Contract Agreement Form.

Follow Up:

Following the release of the funding, each of the main stakeholders were asked to

comment on their overall experience of the grant process. Also upon completion,

projects were asked to evidence the work that they had carried out by supplying the

grant panel with a photo diary, scrap book or report about the project funded as a

form of evidence.

It was recognised that the grant scheme had the potential to create numerous

projects which had strong positive ‘human interest’ stories and hence provide several

opportunities to link with the local press, positively highlighting the grant scheme and

the work of young people in Kirklees. This would involve visiting several of the

projects to follow up their work and meet some of the young people involved.

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BEAUTY PROJECT (Paddock Youth Centre)

Project Description:

A group of young women who attend a local youth group and currently studying Beauty at

college propose to design and deliver beauty sessions to other young people who attend the

club. The aim is to help promote confidence and self esteem in other young women whilst

passing on their knowledge and developing a sustainable business model.

No. of young people involved in the planning and delivery of the project idea: 4

No. of young people benefiting through the delivery of the project: 21 plus

Amount of applied for: £498.60

Amount awarded: £360.00

THE CHANGE (Moor End Academy)


Key stage 4 student leaders from Moor End Academy aimed to bring a positive change to

exam revision and GCSE attainment at the school for current and future students through the

creation of a school specific CD Revision guide. This guide designed by and for students in

the school, would evolve as requirements change and enable students to access free of

charge revision resources for their exams.


No. of young people benefiting through the delivery of the project: 302 in the first year



PROJECTS FUNDED:

A total of 8 projects were funded by the grant scheme. All varied greatly in their

approach to promoting young people’s employment and financial literacy skills. They

ranged from Third sector, school based (non-curriculum time) and IYSS supported

projects and were judged by the grants panel as meeting all of the necessary funding

criteria.

Below is a brief overview of the 8 projects funded:

8

FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT (Kumon Y’all)


A group of 20 young people from Savile Town in Dewsbury applied for funding to help

organise a football tournament to unite people from different communities and social groups

and raise money for local charities. Through organising such an event, the young people

involved would develop many new skills such as project management, time management,

organisational and planning skills as well as boosting their confidence.





HUDDERSFIELD JUNIOR APPRENTICES (Action for Blind People)


A group of four visually impaired/blind young people applied for money to fund a week of

work experience at the charity ‘Action for Blind People’ in Leeds. They would learn important

skills associated with working for a charity and use those skills developed to plan and deliver

their own event for other local visually impaired young people.

No. of young people involved in the planning and delivery of the project idea: 4 (plus 2

supporting adults)

No. of young people benefiting through the delivery of the project: 25



3 PEAKS CHALLENGE (Spen Valley Sports College)


Twelve students from Spen Valley Sports College aim to create a programme to develop

communication, teamwork and fitness skills though embarking on a range of outdoor and

environmental activities to complement award schemes such as Duke of Edinburgh.


No. of young people benefiting through the delivery of the project: 12 in first year



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CONFIDENCE 4 U

(IYSS)


The aim was to run a confidence building programme for a group of girls who attend

Skelmanthorpe Youth Club to help them develop their communication, confidence and

assertiveness skills. The group hope that the new skills acquired will help them in large

groups situations and when applying for college and/or jobs. No. of young people involved in the planning and delivery of the project idea: 3

No. of young people benefiting through the delivery of the project: 25



WORLDIES (IYSS)


A group of seven young people in the Holme Valley area applied for funding to run a cooking

project to help them learn about different foods and cultures from around the world. They

aimed to learn about healthy nutrition, health & safety, budgeting & money skills and work

towards a certificate in food hygiene. The project would cumulate in a fun family evening

centred around foods from around the world that the group planned to research, prepare

and will serve themselves.





THE GREEN FINGERS CREW (Sprout)


Sprout - a gardening club for families with children who are disabled meet up to do activities

and provide support to one another. The group applied for funding to enable them to plan,

organise and carry out activities that they would be in charge of and to invite local business

people in to help them with skills they need to self manage and develop their group such as

photography, advertising and website building. No. of young people involved in the planning and delivery of the project idea: 7

No. of young people benefiting through the delivery of the project: 30-40



10

= No. of projects that applied for funding

= No. of projects awarded funding

(0 = No. of projects not

funded by grant scheme)

PROJECT MONITORING:

Useful monitoring information:

During and after the application process, various data was gathered to provide useful

tracking information and also to determine the ‘cost’ value of the grants project as a

whole. Below is a breakdown of the key information gathered:

GRANT BUDGET:

PROJECT BREAKDOWN:

Third Sector supported Projects (3)

Non curriculum school based projects (2)

Youth Service supported Projects (3)

3000.00 3816.03

00.00 3100.00

Total Grant Budget:

Total amount of funding requested

by groups:

Total amount Awarded*:

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YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED/BENEFITTING:

DEMOGRAPHICS:

The grant scheme was open to young people Kirklees wide with the projects funded

benefiting young people from the following areas:

Total amount of young people

involved in the planning & delivery

of projects: 86

Total amount of young people benefiting through the delivery of projects Kirklees wide:

560 plus

(Cost of grant scheme per head = £5.54)

Spen Valley

12 young

people

Dewsbury

100 +

Young

people

Huddersfield

South

323+ young

people

The Valleys

100 + young

people

Kirklees

Wide

25 + young

people

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http://thesupporter.webs.com/group silhouette.jpg

KEY EMERGING MESSAGES

The diversity of the groups and creativity of the projects funded suggests that

acquiring skills around money, jobs and opportunities is at the forefront for a wide

range of young people who also have dynamic ideas on how their needs in this area

can be met through the delivery of specific projects. It demonstrated that young

people with varying backgrounds and experiences have a desire to work towards

their future career and economic goals. Such a funding scheme also demonstrates

how large numbers of young people can benefit from relatively small budgets and

develop targeted skills.

Reflection from the Young People’s Grant Panel:

The panel described their experience of being involved in the grant process as:

One of the ambitions of the young people’s grant panel was to highlight the need

young people had to gain skills and knowledge in the area of Jobs, Opportunities &

Money. They believe that the projects funded demonstrated young people’s ability

to successfully come up with and deliver dynamic ways of addressing those needs.

The panel also recognised the need to evidence that the grants was a value for

money cost effective way of meeting the needs of local young people, and in doing so

successfully secure further rounds of funding:

“Being involved in the KYC grant scheme was a

valuable experience for me and it was nice to hear

that young people have great ambition to achieve

ways of developing their skills. It was really nice to

be involved in providing support for young people to

develop by offering the grant scheme.”

Afsha, Grant Panel member

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The young people’s panel recognised that with relatively little money, young people

and organisations/ adults in Kirklees who work with them, could effectively work

together to help meet national agendas such as ‘Positive For Youth’2. This supports

the governments numerous areas of commitment to young people around money,

jobs & opportunities as well as ensuring that people work together so that young

people have a voice and are able to decisions:

Excited by the quality of the ideas generated by the young people applying for

funding, one of the suggestions from the grants panel was to work with the groups to

produce information which could be shared with other groups who might like to

duplicate or run similar projects in their area. The idea was to highlight best practice

and encourage young people’s autonomy by sharing some of the cost effective ways

they could take responsibility for meeting their own needs:

2 Positive For Youth Executive Summary (February 2012)

“In the future it would be great if KYC could have a grant scheme again which runs continuously throughout the year, it may be better to split an annual amount of funding we have to allocate over quarters so that funding can be provided at different stages throughout the year.”

Afsha, Grant Panel member

“With quite a small amount of money we were able to fund 8 projects which would benefit hundreds of young

people in Kirklees.”

Matthew, Grant Panel member

“It‟s not about reinventing the wheel. Young people can share good ideas with each other.”

Tim, Grant Panel member

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Feedback from Young People & Adults:

Adults involved in supporting young people applying for funding described the grants

as:

Another adult commented:

All of the adults supporting the young people were part of already existing

organisations that currently work with young people. These included schools, youth

clubs and voluntary sector organisations. Out of the three organisations from the

voluntary sector, two of these were organisations which worked closely with young

people with a disability and their families. They felt that the priority of the grant

scheme was of great importance as many due to their disabilities were at a

disadvantage when seeking work experience. They stated that the grant enabled

them to create and access an experience which would not have otherwise been

available to them:

“Funding cuts have prevented many young people from

completing any work experience at school. Considering

the lack of employment for young people, it is even

tougher for those with a visual impairment to find a

suitable job making this an opportunity not to be missed.”

Peter, young person with a visual impairment

“A great opportunity for young people to get funding for their own projects that not only equip them with life skills but also means that they have something positive to do.”

Diane, Project Worker

“The young people we work with are really despondent

about their future career prospects. Schemes like this

just help to give them a little bit of hope.”

Farook, Project Worker

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Some of the projects used the opportunity to build upon and gain new transferable

skills to help them in their progression to the world of work:

“We want to increase our confidence and assertiveness

so that we have more confidence when meeting new

people. This will help us when applying for college or

with work interviews.”

Nicole, young person

“Our project will teach us different life skills such as health

& safety, budgeting our money and keeping it controlled

and being aware of how much money we have to spend

and what on. We will gain useful certificates and learn

about nutrition will also help us to improve our health.

These are all skills that will help us greatly in the future”

Danielle, young person

“This would give us the opportunity to do „real‟ work,

making and planning real things, not pretend things like in

class at school. We want to do advertising and

computers for a job when we leave school and we want

to find out what it is really like when you are in charge.

We also will have to be careful with money, this will be a

good skill for when we get wages. It will help us chose

our options for college.”

Jill, young person

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Young people described and array of experiences, skills and attributes they hoped to

gain from projects funded by the grant scheme:

Planning

Project Management Event Management Skills

Leadership Fundraising Skills Dealing with clients

Budgeting Business Skills Study Skills Community Awareness

Advertising Photography Developing Ideas Time Management

Organisational Skills Confidence Self-esteem Independence

Financial Awareness Making Decisions Work Experience

Communication Skills Teamwork Skills Self Awareness

Social Skills Qualifications & Certificates

Working with Professionals

Marketing Skills

Reflections on the Application Process:

Groups requested very little support with completing the application form. All of the

applications received were correctly completed with all of the information needed to

meet the criteria submitted. This suggests that the supporting information provided

as part of the application pack was clear enough for groups to understand and follow:

“A very straight forward and simple application

process which was easy to guide the young people

through. It helped them to really think about and focus

on what they were trying to achieve.”

James, Project Worker

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Positive PR Opportunities:

The nature of the grant scheme means that many projects can be funded creating

outcomes for young people which can be varied and far reaching. This holds

potential in terms of PR opportunities as, over a period of time, it can create several

‘good news stories’ which have a strong human interest.

Not only is the grant scheme a cost effective way of funding meaningful projects for

young people, it can be developed as a tool to raise the profile of issues which affect

young people in Kirklees. With correct planning and very little funding, the ‘stories’

generated through the grant scheme can be ‘drip fed’ to the local media to highlight

young people issues and generate positive publicity for young people in Kirklees and

the services/organisations that work with them.

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:

This report has highlighted the grant schemes’ success in identifying and funding

project ideas from groups of young people( aged between 13 to 19 years who live in

Kirklees) to improve their skills and experience relevant to their future employment

or financial well-being. It is hoped that the success of this round of grants will

provide testimonial to secure future funding for grants for young people in Kirklees.

The grant panel worked closely on evaluating the process and were able to inform

the following areas of consideration for any future grant schemes:

Members of KYC have suggested that the success of this grant scheme

demonstrates the feasibility, need and cost effectiveness of running future

grant schemes for young people in Kirklees. On an ongoing basis this could

include securing a budget sufficient for 2-3 funding rounds per year. In line

with local priorities, the youth councillors suggested that each round could

reflect local priorities for young people identified in the Kirklees CYPP. They

suggested that more money be made available this financial year to fund

young people’s projects around Emotional Health & Well-being; another of the

main priorities identified in the Kirklees CYPP.

The grant panel also recognised the positive impact a young people led grant

approach could have in terms of promoting their health and well-being and

enabling young people and the council to work together to achieve not just

local but also national strategic priorities such as those outlined in Positive For

Youth.

Through following up the work of the projects funded, the youth council

recognise that there is potential to encourage other groups of local young

people to become more accountable for their own well-being. They suggest

using previously funded projects as ‘models of good practice’ and developing

easy to follow plans for other young people who may want to replicate ideas in

their own communities.

Funding such approaches could be used as an affordable way to address gaps

in provision for young people and enable them to specifically meet their own

needs. This approach could help young people to develop and share skills and

help to identify gaps to inform the future provision of services.

Despite the scheme being promoted throughout Kirklees, no applications were

received from groups of young people directly from Batley or Denby Dale/

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Kirkburton localities. Whilst the reason for this is unclear, should any future

funding be secured, attention should be paid to encouraging young people

from these areas to apply.

Working closely with the Council’s Communications and Marketing team to

create a PR Strategy will help to promote the positive benefits the grant

scheme has had for local young people and help the Council capitalise on the

positive PR this generates.

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If you would like further information or wish to comment or give feedback on

this report, please contact:

Susan Adams

Voice & Influence Team

[email protected]

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: KYC Grants Application Form

Appendix 2: Criteria Booklet

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Kirklees Youth Council Grant Scheme (Winter 2013) · PDF file · 2013-09-04Kirklees...

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