[cma-l] Further £30m Investment in the Third Sector to Reduce Youth Crime

[CMA-L]

DCSF: http://tinyurl.com/6gsu8q

Third Sector organisations that focus on preventing young people from
committing crime or becoming involved in anti social behaviour, gun or
gang crime, are set to benefit from a cash boost announced today by
Minister for Children and Young People, Beverley Hughes.

The announcement came as Ms Hughes visited Leap Confronting Conflict,
to launch the second round of bidding for the Youth Sector Development
Fund (YSDF) which will make a further £30million available to the
Third Sector.

Leap Confronting Conflict it one of five organisations that benefited
from funding and support under the first round of YSDF. It is using
the money to help young people at risk of becoming involved in crime
by increasing the number of peer mentors in communities across London
and expanding a programme teaching conflict management life skills to
young people. Over the next three years they will also be working with
the Brathay Trust to deliver a series of projects and workshops aimed
at young people at risk of getting involved in gangs, in four areas in
England helping them to stay safe.

Whilst the second round of the YSDF will have preventing youth crime
and re-offending as a key focus, grants will be awarded to a wide
variety of Third Sector organisations that provide an invaluable
service to some of society's most vulnerable young people, helping
them face difficult issues such as substance misuse, teenage pregnancy
and not being in education, employment or training (NEET).

Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Beverley Hughes said:

"The experience and innovation of Third Sector organisations play a
crucial role in reaching the most disaffected young people in some of
the most challenging communities.

"Today's announcement is a great opportunity for ambitious
organisations to benefit from a package of financial and business
support, to enable them to help even more vulnerable young people and
critically, help these unique organisations achieve long term
sustainability.

"Through the second round of funding we expect to fund a wide range of
organisations whose work focuses on our current youth priorities,
particularly but not exclusively, those that offer services to young
people who are at risk of becoming involved in crime, to help build on
the Youth Crime Action Plan."

The Third Sector has a central role to play in the delivery of
services to children and young people, and it is critical that Local
Authorities continue to work closely with, and commission from, some
of their most successful delivery approaches.

As well as financial help, the Youth Sector Development Fund ensures
that each organisation receives tailored business advice and support
to help them secure a healthy future.

The second funding round expects to support around 12 Third Sector
organisations, who will each receive funding in the region of £2.5
million from December 2008 – March 2011.

Also today Beverley Hughes invited organisations from all sectors to
come forward and bid to become a pilot for the Intensive Intervention
Project.

In March 2008, as part of the Youth Taskforce Action Plan, £13million
was made available to tackle 1000 of the most challenging and
problematic young people. This money is now available through an open
bidding process for public, private or third sector organisations.

Establishing 20 of these schemes each year will help tackle the most
antisocial young people and address the causes of their bad behaviour,
building on the Family Intervention Projects. This help is non
negotiable so if the refuse to mend their ways they will face the
consequences.

New guidance launched today will help organisations to have the best
opportunity to place their bids for £650,000 each.

Beverley Hughes said:

"These projects offer the few young people who are involved in serious
anti-social behaviour a real chance to improve their life chances. If
left unchallenged these young people could go on to cause serious harm
to themselves and their communities. They must be made to face the
consequences of their actions but we must also make sure that they
accept support to turn around their lives. The non-negotiable approach
of the Intensive Intervention Projects will do both – with tough
sanctions for those who refuse to take help they need."

Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'

1. The Youth Sector Development Fund (YSDF) has been set up to provide
a direct response to the commitments in Aiming High for young people:
a ten year strategy for positive activities to build the capacity of
third sector organisations.

2. The YSDF will support third sector organisations (TSOs) that can
demonstrate effective approaches to engaging and empowering young
people, particularly the most disadvantaged. From April 2008, up to
£100 million will be available to provide a mixture of large and small
grants and expert business support to help these organisations sustain
and grow their provision so that more young people can benefit from
the activities they offer.

3. The Department is currently in the process of appointing a Managing
Body to provide an integrated package of business support and
administer grants to third sector organisations working with young
people. The Managing Body will support and challenge TSOs so they can
develop and implement more effective business and operational systems
and practices to grow their provision, and become more commissioning
ready.

4. Grants totalling £27m have already been awarded through the YSDF to
five organisations, Leap Confronting Conflict, Fairbridge, Kids
Company, Speaking up and UK Youth who each help and support some of
our most disadvantaged young people.
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0040

5. In the second YSDF funding round we expect to fund organisations
that work with the most disadvantaged young people, and whose
proposals clearly focus on current youth priorities, particularly
those that offer services to young people who are at risk from a range
of negative outcomes, including becoming involved in crime.

6. The specification for the second bidding round of the YSDF is
available to download from http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/ Further
information, including information on workshops for organisations
considering submitting an application for YSDF funding and support, is
also available on this site. The closing date for receipt of full
proposals from youth third sector organisations is 3rd October 2008.

7. Through the Youth Taskforce Action Plan the Government committed
£13million to develop 20 pioneering Intensive Intervention Projects,
which will be based on the successful Family Intervention Projects and
will work with some of the most challenging young people in the
country.

8. Intensive Intervention Projects are intended to develop and
showcase pioneering approaches to working with some of the most
challenging and anti-social young people. Funding will be made
available to establish 20 projects. Any organisation can bid to
establish a project. The specification for bidding for Intensive
Intervention Projects is available at:
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/.

9. Non negotiable help means that if a young person fails to take the
help they could receive Antisocial Behaviour Orders and Individual
Support Orders – both court orders with criminal conviction for those
who breach them.

Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info at dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

Press Notice 2008/0153