Building Connections Fund Youth Strand Accepting Applications

Charities and community organisations from across England can apply now for grants to expand or enhance their work tackling youth loneliness.

The £2 million fund, which is made up of £1 million from Government and £1 million match funding from the Co-op Foundation, offers grants of up to £80,000 for projects that benefit any groups of young people within the most deprived 30% areas of England.

Youth loneliness is widespread but not widely understood. Research from the Co-op Foundation’s campaign to tackle loneliness with the British Red Cross found that young people feel lonely more than any other age groups. Other research has found that 65% of young people say loneliness is an issue for their age group.

The Youth Strand is open to UK based not-for-profit organisations with existing youth-focused activities that could be effective at helping young people avoid long-term loneliness. Successful applicants will receive funding to explore youth loneliness in more depth, test youth-led innovations within their existing provision and share learning as part of a national network.

Grants can also support projects based anywhere in England that mainly benefit young people with one or more of the following circumstances:

Being a carer.
Being unemployed or precariously employed.
Experiencing bereavement.
Having a disability or long-term health condition.
Having been in the care system.

Organisations can apply for up to £80,000, as follows:

Up to £10,000 (to be spent between December 2018 and March 2019) to engage young people in co-designing innovations to improve the impact of existing provision on tackling loneliness
Up to £70,000 (to be spent between April 2019 and March 2021) to implement and evaluate these innovations.

Projects funded through the Youth strand will participate in learning activities focused specifically on youth loneliness, as well as being part of the overall Building Connections Fund evaluation.

The deadline for applications is 26 September 2018 (5pm).

Full details…