Young people in Sheffield to benefit from new funding for youth services
Sheffield City Council has been awarded a Youth Investment Fund Refurbishment Grant to renovate youth provision for young people across the region.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Social Investment Business have announced that 140 youth projects across England are to be awarded funding to create new opportunities for young people.
Six sites in Sheffield will benefit from the scheme that will transform access to new social experiences, health, wellbeing, skills, and opportunities for young people.
The Council has been awarded more than £2.5M to renovate or refurbish Stocksbridge Youth Centre, All Saints Youth Club, Tinsley Youth Club, Osgathorpe Youth Club, Woodthorpe Youth Club and Millan Centre.
These improvements will range from small refurbishments of the buildings to larger-scale renovation works on two of the centres. This will also include environmental improvements that will both reduce carbon usage and reduce running costs for the buildings.
Councillor Richard Williams, Chair of the Communities Parks and Leisure Committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to prioritise the needs of young residents in our city.
“We want all children and young people in Sheffield to feel safe, secure and to have strong support networks which includes modern facilities. We want them to feel like they belong, and for them to have the opportunities to get involved in the things that matter to them.
“This money will enable us to deliver the safe, creative and ambitious youth services needed in Sheffield to allow our next generation to thrive and to create a more equal society for our future generations.”
The Youth Investment Fund forms part of the Government’s ‘National Youth Guarantee’ to ensure every young person across England will have access to regular out of school activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer.
The Youth Investment Fund, of over £300 million, is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and delivered by Social Investment Business in partnership with National Youth Agency, Resonance, and the Key Fund.
It has been developed to create, expand, and improve local youth facilities and their services in the out of school youth sector, to drive positive outcomes for young people, including improved mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “I want to see every young person have someone to talk to, something to do, and somewhere to go outside of the classroom, no matter where they are from, to help maximise their potential in life.”
“This next round of funding from the Youth Investment Fund will help nearly 20,000 more young people achieve this goal.”
“We have now committed to building or refurbishing over 220 projects in some of the country’s most underserved areas, creating more opportunities for young people to gain the skills needed to succeed in life and stopping them from falling through the cracks.”
Once completed the Youth Investment Fund will fund the building or renovation of 300 youth services and will increase the number of regular positive activities undertaken by young people in the targeted areas by 45,000 per year, by 2026/27.
