MANCHESTER, England, 2017-Jun-12 — /EPR Retail News/ — The Co-op Foundation is inviting youth charities in disadvantaged areas of England to apply for the first round of its #iwill fund.
Last month, the Foundation announced a new £2 million partnership to help young people take action to tackle loneliness – a key issue the Co-op has been campaigning on for the past two years. The first £400,000 of this funding will be awarded in 2017, through nine regional grants and one larger national project.
The #iwill fund is made possible thanks to a £40 million joint funding from the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. £1 million from the #iwill fund will be matched pound-for-pound by the Co-op Foundation, who will use the combined pot to grow their national network of partners tackling youth loneliness.
Funds will be targeted at disadvantaged areas where there are currently fewer opportunities for youth social action – activities which make a positive difference to communities, while developing young people’s skills.
Jim Cooke, Co-op Foundation Manager, explains:
“The challenges of growing up today, from the impact of social media to the ‘gig’ economy, mean that loneliness is a significant issue for young people.
“By creating more opportunities to take part in meaningful social action, we hope to strengthen young people’s sense of belonging and help develop a generation of confident, connected young citizens.”
Organisations awarded grants through the new fund will join an existing network of Co-op Foundation partners, who are addressing different aspects of youth loneliness and working together to share learnings about the issue.
One of these partners is Youth Focus: North East, who have worked with a group of young people to develop a grassroots peer-to-peer approach to tackling loneliness, called ‘Fast Friends’. Using photography as a way of exploring experiences of loneliness, the Fast Friends group are encouraging other young people to open up about this issue and take positive actions to support each other.
Fast Friends member Adam Cowley (21) said:
“I think the loneliness project is important because a lot of young people suffer from isolation and we can all help to do something about it.”
The #iwill fund supports the aims of the UK-wide #iwill campaign, co-ordinated by the charity Step Up To Serve, to increase the number of young people taking part in social action.
Charlotte Hill, CEO of Step Up To Serve, said:
“Social action builds vital skills whilst also enabling young people to contribute to their communities. Young people should ALL have access to these opportunities to make a difference, regardless of their background. “This exciting new partnership is all about enabling young people to understand the challenges of loneliness and consider how they can help others to cope with them. I look forward to hearing about the great new youth-led projects this funding will support.”
The deadline for expressions of interest in applying to the fund is 7 July. To find out more, including full details of eligible areas and how to apply, visit coop.co.uk/foundation
Notes to editors
About Co-op Foundation
The Co-op Foundation is a registered charity (number 1093028) set up by the Co-op. It helps disadvantaged communities to overcome their challenges by putting co-operative values into practice. It aims to connect and empower people so they can work together to make things better. More information can be found at www.coop.co.uk/foundation and on Twitter @Coop_Foundation
#iwill fund
- The Government and Big Lottery Fund have each invested £20 million in to the #iwill Fund which will help to transform the culture of community engagement by getting young people involved in greater volunteering opportunities.
- Full application information will be published at www.biglotteryfund.org
- Over four years the fund will be developed through investment and match funding from Trusts and Foundations, businesses and philanthropists
- This innovative fund, bringing together a coalition of investors, aims to create the conditions to embed meaningful social action into the lives of every young person.
#iwill campaign
- The #iwill campaign is being coordinated by the charity Step Up To Serve (Charity No.1154588). It was launched in 2013 after Government research into how the business, education, public and voluntary sectors could support young people to engage in social action (campaigning, fundraising and volunteering) between the ages of 10 and 20.
- HRH The Prince of Wales is Patron of Step Up To Serve and the #iwill campaign. To date more than 600 organisations from across UK society have pledged to support the campaign goal of enabling more than 60% of 10-20 year-olds to participate in social action.
- More information can be found at www.iwill.org.uk and @iwill_campaign
Big Lottery Fund
- The Big Lottery Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It puts people in the lead to improve their lives and communities, often through small, local projects. It is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by National Lottery players for good causes.
- Last year it awarded £583 million and supported around 12,000 projects across the UK for health, education, environment and charitable purposes. Since June 2004 it has awarded over £8 billion to projects that change the lives of millions of people.
- For more information visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
General enquiries:
Email: enquiries@culture.gov.uk
020 7211 6000
Press Office:
Media enquiries (journalists only) 020 7211 2210
Out of hours telephone pager 07699 751 153
Source: Coop