About the Youth Opportunity Fund

There are no restrictions on what activities the Youth Opportunity Fund can support as long as they support one or more of the five outcomes from Every Child Matters:

• Being healthy.
• Staying safe.
• Enjoying and achieving.
• Making a positive contribution.
• Achieving economic well being.

Applications to the Youth Opportunity Fund must be made by young people. At least three young people must be involved. An adult worker must support the bid.

Applications must show that young people are fully involved. If you're applying to the Youth Opportunity Fund, you should show young people deciding on activities and coming up with things to do, if applying to the Youth Capital Fund, you need evidence that the young people want the facilities.

Applications to the Youth Capital Fund should be for money to be spent on facilities that young people want (groups making applications need evidence supporting this).

The Youth Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund can be used together for projects and initiatives which need funding for facilities and activities.

Panels of young people from Oxfordshire decide how the money is spent and whose applications are successful. Adult workers support their role as grant givers, e.g. by encouraging the groups to consider local needs and to think about circumstances for young people beyond their immediate group.

History, policy and aims

The Youth Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund came about because the Government Green Paper, Youth Matters, proposed that money should be made available for young people to decide how to spend in their area.

It was part of an overall aim to improve the amount and quality of positive activities for young people, particularly those who are disadvantaged, and to provide more places to go and things to do.

Youth Matters stated that young people should be able to benefit from:

• a range of safe and enjoyable places to go
• a wide range of sporting, cultural and recreational activities and experiences
• opportunities for volunteering

To make this possible, they proposed that money be made available for young people to decide how to spend in their area – the Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF). They also proposed the Youth Capital Fund (YCF), to help improve youth facilities, particularly in deprived neighbourhoods. As projects often contain both elements, the Youth Capital Fund and Youth Opportunity Fund can be used together.

The involvement of young people, especially disadvantaged young people, is central to this initiative. Young people should be involved at every stage:

• Making the bids
• Deciding on funding
• Producing reports

More about aims

The aim of the YOF is to involve young people, especially hard to reach young people, in identifying positive activities and things to do; and to support their role as decision makers, grant givers and project leaders.

The aim of the YCF is to provide money to be spent on facilities that young people want, and it should allow for the active involvement of young people, with particular emphasis on those who are disadvantaged, in all aspects of planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation.

Young people should be supported as they grow into the role of decision makers, grant givers and project leaders. They should also be encouraged to consider local needs and circumstances as a part of their role in shaping provision for young people beyond their immediate group.

Partnerships and joint-funding with other statutory, voluntary, community and private partner organisations are all to be encouraged, as is collaboration with other young people from different cultural and social backgrounds.

YOF/YCF aim to:

• Give a voice and influence to young people, particularly disadvantaged young people, in relation to things to do and places to go and to convey a powerful message to young people that their needs and aspirations are important;
• Change the way local authorities and their partners provide activities and facilities for young people, especially in deprived neighbourhoods, and to increase the responsiveness of providers to what young people want;
• Improve things to do and places to go in line with what young people want in their neighbourhood;
• Provide opportunities for young people to develop their confidence, knowledge, skills and abilities and gain recognition and/or accreditation for them;
• Increase the well-being of young people by contributing to the achievement of the Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes.
• Increase young people’s engagement with services and with the democratic process at local level.

Conditions for spending the funds

The conditions attached to the payment of the funds are:

• Their use is to be determined by young people to provide activities and facilities;
• That appropriate support is given to young people, particularly those who are disadvantaged, involved in all levels of participation in YOF /YCF, including setting up and running panels, training young people, completing paperwork and leading projects;
• That evidence is collected of how the funds are being used by young people and the impact of the funds in providing facilities and activities for young people.
• That information on expenditure, activities and capital projects financed by the funds and the impact on provision is provided to the Government Office.

You can read the full Youth Opportunity Fund & Youth Capital Fund Guidance Notes on the Every Child Matters website.