The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has announced the launch of the new £30 million Youth in Focus fund. Through this new fund, partnerships led by a voluntary and community sector organisations will be able to apply for grants of between £500,000 and £1,000,000 (£1,500,000 for England-wide projects that raise national awareness) for projects that support vulnerable young people through difficult changes in their lives.

Specifically, the programme will support projects that target:

Young carers – Helping young people between the ages of 15 and 25 to be heard and get better access to practical advice and services, which can support their day to day lives.
Young people leaving care – Supporting young people between the ages of 15 and 25, so they get better access to education, housing, healthcare and employment advice and services.
Young people leaving youth offenders’ institutions – Helping young people between the ages of 15 and 25 to develop their life skills and get better access to services, particularly young men with learning difficulties and young women.

BIG want to fund projects that work with the young people to:

improve confidence, skills and knowledge – so they can better deal with the life events that affect them
provide more effective support that is joined up with other services – so they can tackle challenges better

To launch the programme and to assist potential applicants Big will be holding a number of briefing events in September. For more information on the programme and on the briefing events please click on the link below:

http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_youth_focus?tab=1&