Vulnerable and Disengaged Young People Fund opens for applications

A £2m fund for organisations that work with vulnerable young people has opened for applications. The Vulnerable and Disengaged Young People Fund will be administered by the Social Investment Business on behalf of the Cabinet Office’s Centre for Social Action.
It will make grants of between £30,000 and £250,000, and is open to charities and social enterprises, public sector bodies and businesses with a clear social mission.

The grants will fund work with “young offenders, young people in care or leaving care, and other groups of disengaged and vulnerable young people”, the SIB said. It will focus on academic performance, getting young people into work, reducing reoffending and improving health. It will support both new and existing programmes.

Applications will be open until 6 December. The first tranche of money will go out in January and organisations will need to spend the money by March 2015. Four workshops to be held this month in London and the north of England will provide more information on the application process.

Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society, said: “We are looking for organisations that can offer programmes to support vulnerable young people do to well at school and to help reduce reoffending, but overall to give them the aspiration to achieve their goals and lead happy, healthy and well-balanced lives.”