Our work with UK Youth

Based in Thornbury

Krunch work out of the Pod which is based at the local skate park, offering a café and a youth zone. They offer activities 4 evenings a week, all of which provide food and include: creative activities, games nights, support with getting into work, digital access, Prince’s Trust achieve programme, cooking, bushcraft sessions and skating.

Krunch would like to purchase technological equipment but also fund staff time to support the young people in using the equipment. 

Based in Wiltshire

The Open Blue Trust looks to build community for those struggling with rural poverty and isolation. They use a converted double deck bus as a mobile community centre, with activities such as carer groups, afterschool clubs and youth drop ins. The bus provides a safe, warm space to those young people and through this detached youthwork The Open Blue Trust is able to offer positive activities and conversation. 

Open Blue Trust would utilise the funding to install mobile Wi-Fi alongside purchasing hardware that young people would be able to use whilst on the bus. Being connected to the internet would allow the bus to update to a digital offer for young people which will increase the engagement and number of young people they work with.

Based in Swindon

Smash Youth work with young people aged 9 to 16 across all of Swindon, running mentoring sessions 5 days a week after school for young people referred by their schools and social workers. Mentoring sessions may include discussions around anything including wellbeing, family, their future and relationships.

The funding will allow them to run sessions with young people to complete the design for the new website, fund staff time and update the IT equipment. In following years they plan to create the online content for the digital space and commission a local web developer to train and work with the young people.

Based in Swindon

Youth Moves are a youth charity, providing a wide range of services to young people in South Bristol aged 8 - 18, including open access, youth voice, detached/street based youth work, music programmes, schools based work, environmental work, small group support sessions, 1-1 mentoring, sports sessions, wellbeing sessions, short term projects and long term engagement.

Youth Moves will purchase music production programmes and bring in a specialist to train the staff and some young people on using these programs to a high level. They will repeat peer training in media and podcasting and run workshops giving more young people access to high quality trained staff in music and media.

Based in Chippenham

The Rise Trust work across North Wiltshire delivering outreach youth work multiple times a week. Once young people have been approached by youth workers, they are then invited to attend sessions at the youth club, which offers a safe space and sessions including wellbeing activities, LGBTQ+ awareness, mental health support and exploring healthy relationships.

The funding would be spent on the following:

- Laptops for youth centre sessions

- Tablets for youth workers to use during outreach 

- Internet connection for the youth centre 

- Training for youth workers around promoting internet safety

This would mean that the Rise Trust services would include access to digital equipment during youth work sessions and ensure that young people are able to access services as soon as possible with on the spot referrals.

Based in Croydon

Compass Collective work with young refugees and asylum seekers aged 14-25. They run a range of English classes, offer employment support and run two professional development programmes in London for 18 young people through the art, as well as opportunities in music, drama, life skills, and confidence. 

Compass will use the funding to buy and distribute laptops to young people who struggle to access the classes, and fund staff to deliver various sessions, including digital training sessions to teach young people basic tech skills. They also plan to buy digital learning platform subscriptions to ensure further learning and growth for their staff and young people.  

Based in London

The Screen Community run training workshops in the media industry, bringing in experts to teach disadvantaged young people around the Grenfell area. They teach film, TV production, game design and coding. 

They have a wide network where referrals come in including schools, SEND schools, PRUs, gang referral units. Young people will engage with them for around 3 months and they have a strong follow-on service. 

The Screen Community are in the process of setting up a digital hub, so this funding will help them purchase the necessary kit to do so. They also plan to purchase 5 multipurpose Games Design laptops to enable them to run games design programmes and Film & TV production workshops.

Based in Tottenham

Code1 Community Group are a Black-led organisation who provide enrichment activities around Tottenham and Enfield within community spaces such as the youth centre, library and leisure centre, through weekly mentoring and podcasting after school programmes and activities throughout the holidays. 

They plan to run workshops and podcasting, purchase laptops to loan out to young people so that they can use this to access their educational requirements. They also plan to purchase data plans, develop their data monitoring system, make sure all youth workers and volunteers are digitally trained, run digital family groups to engage families with digital learning from a young age, and run more digital classes after school and weekends.

Based in Hackney

Teen Action support young women aged 16+ from the Orthodox Jewish Community based in Hackney, who often cannot access mainstream services including schools. They work with young women to upskill them into employment and provide opportunities to bring them together, such as arts and crafts, and deliver mental health support. 

A large portion of the funding will fund specific software for their IT training programs. The funding will also be used for general IT upkeep, as well as towards investing in new software and digital platforms. 

Based in London

Our Time makes a big difference to the lives of young people dealing with the challenges of having a parent with a mental illness. They hold monthly workshops to create a safe, relaxed space where families come together to learn about mental illness. While the children de-stress and explore mental health issues through games and drama, their parents are in a peer support group focussed on meeting the challenges of being a parent and having mental health issues. 

Our Time will recruit a content creator to convert their existing content to digital and lead on the creation of new online content. They also plan to arrange co-creation workshops with COPMI where they would give insights and help shape the content of the pupil and teacher training resources. 

Based in Reading

DAS work with young people in the social care system, in supported accommodation and those just moved into their first independent living space. They support 13-25 year-olds who are on the cusp of adulthood and need support in developing key life skills and overcoming barriers to employment.

They intend to purchase tech equipment for use and loan to young people. They will also encourage the use of a youth employment website and they will register for IBME mindfulness course so they have this skill to use during difficult times. They also intend to fund a digital Outcome Star programme, which will allow them to adequately monitor their outcomes and the impact with have on their young people.

Based in Didcot

Be Free Young Carers run programmes for young carers which include respite sessions in school holidays, monthly activity sessions and a be-friending programme which lasts for a period of 6 months. Activities are chosen by young people and can range from cinema screenings to cookery classes. 

Be Free Young Carers would use the funds to purchase technology for their 13+ youth groups, including VR headsets, laptops Bluetooth speakers and gaming consoles. They would also purchase a presentation touch screen for delivering their training to befrienders, volunteers and young carers.

Based in Berkshire/Wokingham

Cianna’s Smile provide support for children (aged 0-16) and their families who suffer from Sickle Cell Disease. They were set up as there is no other support for Sickle Cell in the area, and all of their services are family oriented. They offer group family days out, a pen pal programme for children, a book club, advocacy support and wellness days. They also created a 10-week programme where the older attendees can develop life skills. 

Cianna’s Smile plan to run digital training workshops for young people to facilitate digital skills learning and fund new devices and software for the young people. By developing digital skills, young people with Sickle Cell will have more options in terms of employment and can still work from their hospital bed. 

Based in Reading

Tilehurst Junior Club operate a weekly youth club in term times for children aged 8 to 12, as well as a junior leader team. They run various activities such as sport, leisure, arts and anything else that the young people would like to do. 

They plan to purchase a camera to create films, laptops for homework, photography sessions, fees for specialist facilitators in areas which they do not currently have the expertise, and licenses to cover programmes such as Photoshop, coding, and video editing. 

Based in Reading

Readipop provides a fully inclusive and accessible programme of participant-led youth projects and free access to a regular musical offer for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people. They provide a connected programme of 1:1 music-based mentoring sessions, free-to-access youth clubs, workshops, creative employment, and performance opportunities with referrals and outreach workshops. They improve access to learning by using technology which ensures all young people can participate and achieve their greatest outcomes. 

Readipop will purchase additional IT equipment and software, including a new iMac and up to date music software, enabling them to increase their capacity to meet demand for sessions. 

Based in Swansea, Wales

Swansea MAD is a grassroots charity that provides safe spaces for young people to access advocacy, creative arts, education, digital technology, employability support, training, campaigning activities and projects to bring fairness and belonging. 

Swansea MAD will test new projects and invest in new digital and IT infrastructure including computers, VR Headsets and motion sensor suits, and obtain software and licenses to ensure equipment is up-to-date, modern, accessible and meets the needs of young people and youth workers.

Based in Cardiff, Wales

Deaf Hub Wales operates a weekly youth group that caters for young deaf people between the ages of 11 and 25. They run activities ranging from tie dye shirts and crafts, filming (phone only) or working on youth awards, as well as community consultation meetings and 1-2-1 discussions with young members. 

The funding will help to bridge the digital divide in the deaf community by bringing in specialist trainers to online training sessions. Young people who are attending the training will hopefully support with future training, thereby improving skills in multiple areas.

Based in Manchester

Highway Hope have close to 150 young people aged 8 to 18 that use their services every week at the church centre in Manchester, including education classes, music school, coding sessions and more. 

Highway Hope would spend the grant on equipment for young people to take out on loan as well as use in our education sessions. These resources would be used to run a 12 week course on digital skills and to deliver training on how to use these items of software to make quality videos and film.

Based in West Midlands

Deaf World work with young people aged 11-25 across the West Midlands, offering a range of programmes and activities based on the need of young people, including a youth forum who input into the design and delivery of their programmes. 

Deaf World would use the money to put cameras in cars to create a driving simulation with instructions in BSL. This would allow young people to have a basic knowledge of driving before stepping into the driver’s seat. This resource will act as an assessed entry level for the participants prior to commencing ‘Road to Enrichment’. The participants will be better informed and have confidence in engaging with ‘Road to Enrichment’. This BSL resource does not exist nationally and would be a pilot and pioneering opportunity designed and delivered by deaf young people.

Based in Middlesborough

The Imaginarium deliver a range of creative activities to young people through performing arts. Their work supports mental health and wellbeing and helps those in school to work out what their barriers are by empowering them to figure out what they like to do.

This funding will allow them to purchase tech equipment, update their recording studio, invest in their staff team and allow them to widen their youth work provision to offer more digital session, as well as provide a warm digital hub for those in need.