Leading youth work charity UK Youth has been awarded £4.1million from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
The charity has been selected as a Youth Sector Development Fund Pathfinder to develop a series of 10 Youth Achievement Foundations across England. These Foundations, which are based on UK Youth's successful alternative curriculum approach and Youth Achievement Awards programme, will support young people at risk ofbecoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) and help put them back on the pathway to success.
Derek Casey, Chair of UK Youth and Bid Director of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, said: "We are delighted to be one of the first organizations to receive support from the new Pathfinder Fund. This will further develop the success of The Youth Achievement Awards and scale up the alternative curriculum work that we have been developing in North Lincolnshire, in conjunction with 7KS, with great success".
UK Youth is working with a range of partners to deliver this programme, including 7KS Enterprise College, ASDAN, Clubs for Young People and a range of local partners including youth associations such as Youth Federation and Young Gloucestershire and schools, including in year one, Wildernesse School in Kent. The programme will be independently evaluated by the Social Futures department of Teesside University.
John Bateman OBE, Chief Executive of UK Youth said: "We are very proud to be selected as one of the first organisations to receive support from the Youth Sector Development Fund and we look forward to working with both the DCSF and the new body itself in developing Youth Achievement Foundations in conjunction with our partners both nationally and locally. The most important aspect of this support however is that we will be able to bring the successful approach developed within a Youth Achievement Foundation to many more young people across the country".
For further information about UK Youth, contact Laura McVeigh on laura@ukyouth.org / 07779 617055 or John Bateman OBE at jb@ukyouth.org.
