Welcome To Wirral

General Information

What are the Youth Opportunity Fund & Youth Capital Fund?
They are two pots of money that have been given to Wirral young people by the Government to pay for places to go and things to do in young people’s leisure time. Young people themselves will decide how the money is to be spent.

The two funds:

• Are for young people aged 13-19 years
• Will give young people a voice in making decisions
• Will help involve disadvantaged and harder to reach young people
• Will improve things to do and places to go for young people in their neighbourhoods
• Will be invested in youth facilities, particularly in deprived areas
• Should contribute to Every Child Matters (ECM) outcome areas – see below

What is ECM (Every Child Matters)?
Every Child Matters is the Government’s vision for improving services for children and young people in the following five outcome areas: Be Healthy, Stay Safe, Enjoy and Achieve, Make a Positive Contribution or Achieve Social and Economic Well-being (for details: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/aims/outcomes/)

Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF)
The money in this fund is for young people to bid for new activities. Any activity is ok as long as it supports the Every Child Matters (ECM) outcome areas, so it could be for projects, trips, residentials, etc.

Youth Capital Fund (YCF)
This money is to be spent on things like doing up buildings, buying youth shelters etc. The money in this fund can be used along side the Youth Opportunity Fund.

The two funds will be managed by a group of Wirral young people, who will be linked to Wirral’s four Area Youth Forums. These young people will meet and discuss each application and make decisions on how the money will be given out. The group will work to ‘Grant Criteria’ to help them make their decisions (see criteria and terms and conditions of funding).

How much money is there?
Wirral young people have been given:

Youth Opportunity Fund - £424,000
Following extensive consultation with young people, the Grant Panel have decided to split the fund this year as follows:

• £100,000 YOF and £182,100 YCF - for strategic commissioning purposes. This money will be used borough wide for larger capital projects and can be applied for via a separate application
• £293,220 – General Fund with emphasis on projects that meet priority areas

This money is for general projects. Applications which specifically address some of the most important issues for young people in Wirral will be given priority, namely:

o Reducing teenage pregnancy
o Substance and alcohol misuse
o Homelessness
o Music, Arts and Media projects for young people
o Environmental projects which benefit the community
o Projects which help reduce anti-social behaviour
o Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training
o Projects which operate on Friday or Saturday evenings
o Projects which demonstrate that they are sustainable after March 2011
o New initiatives/niche projects

Who can apply?
Groups of young people, young people who are members of organisations, not-for-profit organisations whose applications are led by a groups of young people.

Criteria and terms and conditions of funding—2010/2011

It is essential that applications:

• Be written by 3 or more young people from Wirral aged 13-19
• Provide value for money and are realistic, achievable and well thought out
• Improve things to do and/or places to go for young people in Wirral
• Youth Opportunity/Youth Capital Fund grants MUST BE spent by 31 March 2011
• Fit into two or more of the 5 Every Child Matters outcome areas:

- Be Healthy
- Stay Safe
- Enjoy and Achieve
- Make a Positive Contribution
- Achieve Economic Well-being
(for details see: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/aims/outcomes/)

• Benefit young people from Wirral, aged 13-19
• Show how the project is led by and involves young people in all stages, i.e. application, management, monitoring and evaluation
• Show how equal opportunities are being considered. Applications which can involve or benefit groups of vulnerable young people are particularly encouraged
• Have the support of a “not for profit” organisation with its own constitution, bank account and child protection/health & safety procedures etc (this supporting organisation could be a youth club, school, or a young people’s group etc. If you haven’t got a supporting organisation call the Youth Service on 637 6370, they will be able to help you find a supporting organisation that will suit your group).
• Provide details of how the project will be managed, monitored and evaluated

Any application that does not demonstrate ALL of the essential criteria listed above will not be successful.

Additional criteria for 2010/2011:

• Successful projects must take place between 1st April 2010 and 31st March 2011
• If your application meets the essential criteria, you will be asked to give a short presentation to the grant panel
• If your application is successful, you must attend a briefing session, where the Grant Panel and support staff will explain the process of evaluation to you
• There is no upper limit for applications, however the grant panel ask that you consider how the funds are split (see General Information sheet for details of this)

If your application is successful you must ensure:

• That written financial records including receipts for all expenditure are kept
• That the funding was used wholly for the purpose given (if you want to use the money for something other than you have written on your application form, you must get written permission from the Grant Panel first)
• That the Grant Panel has been kept informed of any changes which affect how the funding is used
• That you complete and return the evaluation form within the deadline

YOF/YCF cannot fund:

• An individual young person
• Religious or party political activities
• Activities or projects for young people under 13 or over 19 years
• Projects that are already funded – the YOF & YCF are an extra resource
• Equipment/activities etc that have already been paid for (NB Funding will not be given for projects that have already taken place, so please WAIT for confirmation that your application has been successful)
• Administrative or management costs to a support organisation

If your group fails to meet the above conditions, then you will have to pay back all or part of the money you have been given and it may also affect any future applications.