Youth Investment Fund

Youth Investment Fund

The Youth Investment Fund (YIF) supported voluntary, community and social enterprise youth organisations to deliver, expand and create high quality local youth provision in targeted communities across England. Successful applicants will be funded up until 2020, which allows them to invest and plan for the future.

The YIF was launched in September 2016, and following the initial round of applications, 86 funding awards were made in March 2017. The disadvantaged areas targeted through the YIF included:

• Bristol and Somerset
• East London
• Eastern regions
• Liverpool City region
• Tees Valley and Sunderland
• West Midlands.

Due to not being able to fund as many applications as we anticipated in the initial round, we invited an additional round of applications from organisations working in the East of England and the West Midlands. This locally nuanced approach aimed to ensure young people in these areas benefit from the investment. A total of £2 million was available (which was part of the £40 million total). The organisations which were awarded a share of this £2 million were:

• KIDS (working in Dudley)
• One Walsall
• Peterborough Council for Voluntary Service
• SoLO Life Opportunities in Solihull
• YMCA Norfolk

Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “This funding will help provide more opportunities for young people to build their confidence, discover new talents and reach their potential. It will be great to see young people getting involved in the design of these activities, making sure they reflect what matters to them and their lives.”

This programme was run by The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).