YOF/YCF Q&A

“these funds provide a real opportunity to improve provision and facilities for young people and will make a difference to both them and their neighbourhoods. The Government has, for the first time, put much of the responsibility for deciding what they need in the hands of young people themselves.”

Beverly Hughes Minister for Children, Young People and Families

Questions and Answers

Can I download a list of all the projects which have been funded?
You can download a list of projects funded so far in the current funding round (07/08) here. This list is updated quarterly, after the rounds of funding meetings have finished.

How much money has the government put into the new funds?
The government has committed £31m a year to the Youth Opportunity Fund (a small amount will be used for evaluation) and £26.5m a year to the Youth Capital Fund, until March 2008.

Do all local authorities receive an equal share of the funds?
No. Each LA receives a different allocation according to a number of factors. weighted on a variety of factors, in 2006/7 Oxfordshire will have £346201 to distribute through the Youth Opportunity Fund and £272595 through the Youth Capital Fund. The same amount will be available in 2007/8, subject to monitoring.

Who will be distributing the funding?
This funding will be located within the Youth Support Services of the Children, Young People and Families Directory. It will be spent at young people’s discretion on projects to improve things to do and places to go in Oxfordshire. The funding will be distributed by young people for young people’s projects through 5 Divisional Young People’s Forums who will also form a countywide group to consider any relevant county wide applications.

How will the funding be shared out in the county
Each forum will receive a proportion of the funding dependent on numbers of young people and elements of need. There will also be a countywide allocation for countywide projects.

When will the funding be allocated?
There are four meetings per year to distribute Grant Aid in June, September, December and March, with a further meeting mid-year to discuss any countywide applications.

What sort of projects will the funding be supporting?
The funding is for positive activities and facilities for young people at neighbourhood level, i.e. what young people want locally. Activities funded through the Youth Opportunity Fund can cover a range of interests including sports, the Arts and ICT interests and the Youth Capital Fund can be used to refurbish or build a youth space within an existing community amenity, for youth shelters, mobile skate parks and ICT as new build facilities.

What do you mean by positive activities?
Positive activities for young people are enjoyable, interesting and support the five outcomes from Every Child Matters:

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

What age young people will be involved in the projects?
The target age range for the funding is 13-19 years and exceptionally cases will work at the margins with 11-13 and 19-25 year olds with special needs.

Who should be applying for funding?
For the Youth Opportunity Fund, bids should be young person led, with support from youth workers and organisations, voluntary groups, etc. Any organisation working with young people in Oxfordshire may apply for funding from the Youth Capital Fund, although young person interest and support must be a strong part of the bid.

How can young people who want to put forward a bid get support?
Young people can get support towards making bids from the Youth Support Services, either through their local Youth Worker, Key Worker, Support Worker or from central Youth Support Services. You can email to ask about getting support and to find out how to contact workers in your area. Please include your contact details and a short description of your project.

Can a group apply for a very large grant?
Although the young people allocating the funds do not want to exclude any really great projects, there is a limited amount of money (£100,000 for countywide projects, and a roughly similar amount for each of the five areas) available during the year, and this is expected to fund a variety of different things.

What sort of amounts have been granted already? Can I see a list?
There is a list of projects funded during the 07-08 grant period here. Grant applications come in for all sorts of different amounts (from around £100 to over £15,000 last year) and all are carefully considered by the Divisional Youth Forums to see whether the grant represents value for money i.e. how much benefit the grant can convey, and to how many different young people.

Can we apply for funding for a project that has already happened?
No, YOF and YCF cannot be applied for retrospectively.

What do we need to include with our application?
The application form includes full instructions about how to fill it in and what should be included. Be sure to remember:

• Forms must be fully filled in
• Forms must be signed and dated
• Your group's equal opportunities statement and current financial records must be included with your bid

Please see the application form for more details.

Can we make a presentation at a funding meeting?
No. Because of numbers of bids being received, we are unable to view presentations at meetings, so please include all relevant information with your application form.

Does the County Council offer other grants or funding?
You can find out about other sources of grants and funding from the Grants and Funding Page on the Oxfordshire County Council website. This page also has links to independent and charitable funds.

Can you advise us about other sources of funding?
We are unable to offer any advice relating to other sources of funding.