Cheshire Community Foundation launches new funding opportunity for youth social action projects

Cheshire Community Foundation is proud to be distributing the latest round of #iwill funding in Cheshire and Warrington made possible thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund and DCMS.

The foundation is using match funding to make over £67,000 available in #iwill Fund grants for local youth social action projects, contributing to the £1.4m total for the programme nationally. Social action involves activities such as campaigning, fundraising and volunteering and has huge potential to create enjoyable opportunities and skills development for young people, and in turn benefit the local people and places.

The #iwill movement brings together cross-sector organisations and young people who believe that all children and young people should have the chance to make a positive difference on the issues that affect their lives, their communities, and broader society. The #iwill Fund supports the aims of the #iwill movement and is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Grants of up to £10,00 are available for projects lasting up to a year for participants aged between 10 and 20 – or 25 for young people with a disability – focusing particularly on the 10-14 age range. The programme aims to fund both new and well-established groups, and to encourage young people who are new to social action.

Successful projects will be led, owned and shaped by young people’s needs, ideas and decision making, have a clear benefit to a community, cause or social problem and be accessible to all.

Previous #iwill grantees include Warrington Youth Club, Motherwell CIO in Crewe and Winsford, and Minerva Arts in Lache, Chester. Projects fulfilled the brief in varied and innovative ways, from youth theatre to engaging teenage girls with learning difficulties and mental health issues. One charity ran a leadership workshop from Storyhouse Theatre in Chester, another forged links between special schools and older people to deliver an intergenerational project.

Rosemary Macdonald, CEO of UK Community Foundations commented, “Young people are the future of our communities. By encouraging 10–14-year-olds to get involved in social action and see the benefits for themselves and their communities, we are creating strong foundations for the future.”

Zoe Sheppard, CEO of Cheshire Community Foundation, said: “It’s an honour for us to partner with The National Lottery Community Fund and DCMS to once again deliver this programme. We are committed to breaking generational cycles of poverty in Cheshire and Warrington, and engaging young people to take a leading role in their communities is a vital way to achieve that goal. There is so much potential in this generation of young people, but they face challenging times and for many their home circumstances limit what they can achieve. Through #iwill we hope to reach some of those young people and give them the agency over their lives and community that they so richly deserve.”

The #iwill Fund opens for applications on Monday 3rd October. For more details about the criteria and how to apply go to:

http://www.wiltshirecf.org.uk/grants-and-support/groups/iwill/