Young people across Sheffield celebrate a transformational £400,000 Youth Investment Fund grant awarded to Whiteley Woods Outdoor Activity Centre
Whiteley Woods Outdoor Activity Centre has been awarded a transformational Youth Investment Fund grant of £400,000 to renovate its youth service offer to young people across Sheffield and surrounding areas. It is very welcome news for young people who will benefit from the generous funding and means, once complete, Whiteley Woods OAC will be able to support over 200 young people a week. It is hoped that as well as offering great new facilities for young people, the project will also generate more volunteering opportunities and a new member of staff. The main project will be to convert a derelict Grade II listed cottage into a residential unit available for hire by smaller groups of children and young people.
Whiteley Woods Outdoor Activity Centre is one of 43 youth services in England to benefit from the first wave of Youth Investment Fund grants, announced by the funder, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the charity Social Investment Business, who is delivering the grant programme in partnership with Key Fund, National Youth Agency, and Resonance. The Youth Investment Fund is part of the Government’s National Youth Guarantee to transform and level up opportunities for young people in England. The Youth Investment Fund, of over £300 million, aims to build, renovate, or extend youth service facilities, providing a minimum of 45,000 additional positive activities for young people between 11 and 18 in the parts of the country where new spaces and new opportunities are most needed.
The 43 Youth Investment Fund grants announced today, worth over £90 million, are the first to benefit from this new funding. Over the next two years the funding pot will be rolled out to a total of 300 youth services across England. It will enable youth services like Whiteley Woods Outdoor Activity Centre to transform health, wellbeing, skills, and opportunities for young people. It is a ground-breaking opportunity to prioritise the needs of young people and deliver the life-changing services they need, creating a more equal society for future generations.
The Youth Investment Fund grant of £400,000 will transform Whiteley Woods OAC’s renovation project to enhance their services for young people. It means work can start on site immediately and aims to complete by September 2024, with the site able to remain open throughout.
The grant will pay for a two-part project, both upgrading its current facilities and renovating the Grade II listed cottage on the same site. The grant will also mean that existing toilet and shower facilities for campers can be upgraded, and repair work carried out on the rest of the listed building thereby providing excellent facilities for many years to come. Whiteley Wood OAC is a very small charity, with a low income, and work to upgrade and develop the service would not have been possible without the Youth Investment Fund. The grant will make a huge difference by securing the future of the centre and by providing additional accommodation options for children and young people. Young people have been part of the development process, sharing their ideas for the design of the cottage refurbishment, and two young people are part of the project’s sub-committee. Some of the young people’s ideas include incorporating environmentally friendly heating solutions; a more ‘homely’ feel to the shared living spaces and retaining the original features and heritage of the cottage.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “I want every young person to have the opportunity to access the kinds of life-changing activities which expand their horizons and allow them to develop vital life skills.
“The National Youth Guarantee will provide these opportunities and support young people with access to regular club activities, adventures away from home and volunteering opportunities.
“We are supporting this today with an investment to create or renovate spaces for youth clubs and activities to support opportunities for thousands of young people across the country who would otherwise miss out.”
Nick Temple, CEO for Social Investment Business, said: “Every young person deserves access to high quality activities and facilities, providing the opportunities to help them thrive. The Youth Investment Fund is helping make that vision a reality, supporting organisations and projects in the areas of England that need it most.”
“It’s been amazing to see the wide range of projects applying to the Fund, and especially how young people have played a meaningful role in shaping those plans. There is a real appetite to develop inclusive, accessible, and sustainable facilities that will be there for future generations – and that is reflected in the first set of grants announced today.”
“We are hugely excited as work gets underway in places across the country – work that will help transform opportunities for thousands of young people.”
Leigh Middleton, Chief Executive, National Youth Agency, said: “We are delighted to see these initial projects get off the ground and excited about the many and varied projects we are now supporting through the application process. The involvement of our Young Assessors in this process is vital to ensure that bids have young people at their core and that the places and activities which will be delivered are inclusive to all. Over the next three years the Youth Investment Fund will support our ambitions to enable more young people to benefit from the life changing impact of youth work, including gaining essential life skills, preparing for employment, and being empowered to have a voice in their communities and society.”
Welcoming the Youth Investment Fund grant, Gillian Nottingham, Chair of Trustees at Whiteley Woods OAC, said “We are thrilled to have been successful in obtaining this Youth Investment Fund grant. The refurbished buildings will give us a secure future and ensure that we can offer awesome activities for even more children and young people from Sheffield and beyond for many years to come”
Visitor to Whiteley Woods OAC, Bethany aged 15, said, “I have been coming to the Whiteley Woods OAC from age 5 and I really look forward to our exciting weekends. Over the years I have done all the old and new activities, it is so peaceful and different to where I live.”
The Youth Investment Fund is actively welcoming expressions of interest for youth service projects at any scale or stage of development for new/renewed facilities that will deliver positive outcomes for young people in selected eligible areas in England. Eligible youth service projects can apply now, with applications open until the final grant committee in March 2024. Visit www.youthinvestmentfund.org.uk