Four local good causes recently benefited from grants to boost youth social action in Bath and North East Somerset, with the money coming from the #iwill grants programme.
The programme, formerly known as the Youth Social Action Fund, aims to increase youth social action.
Youth social action could be anything from campaigning to fundraising, volunteering to learning new skills, anything that helps young people make a positive difference to their communities.
#iwill is a national grants programme, run locally by Quartet Community Foundation.
The Big Lottery Fund and the Office for Civil Society have invested £2 million to fund groups offering local youth social action opportunities.
In the most recent round grant funding went to:
- Carers Centre B&NES (Care Network), who received £3,450 to train young carers that will give them the skills and confidence to raise awareness of young carers needs.
- Off the Record B&NES, who received £4,784 to offer weekly LGBT youth group sessions for young people interested in campaigning and getting involved in projects relating to advancing LGBT Equality.
- Bath Area Play Project, who received £4,959 to pay for an Outreach Worker who provides regular support and supervision to young volunteers at a charity providing play-based activities.
- Mentoring Plus, who received £3,540 for a project involving young people in managing a charity pop-up shop in Bath.
Bath Area Play Project works across Bath with a focus on Twerton, Southdown, Foxhill, Odd Down and Weston.
Their Director Caroline Haworth said: “We’re delighted to be awarded a grant so we can offer disabled young people opportunities to volunteer and experience meaningful unpaid work.
“We’ve seen the difference volunteering opportunities can make to young people – we recently had a young person with learning disabilities work with us as a volunteer.
“By offering person-centred support, we helped her grow in confidence and develop skills to help her in her studies and in her search for work.
“Thanks to this funding we’ll be able to offer more young people the support they need to make a difference in their own community.”
Another round of #will grants will be available for local good causes to apply to later this year.
To find out more, visit: https://quartetcf.org.uk/grant-programmes/youth-social-action-fund/
