At Pears Foundation, we’re delighted to be able to support lots of brilliant people and organisations based in, or working across, Yorkshire. From our long-standing partnership with The Linking Network in Bradford, to more recent work on youth volunteering with NHS Trusts in Leeds, Airedale, Hull and Sheffield, we’re really proud of the incredible Partners we work with in the region.
This Yorkshire Day, we wanted to celebrate the third year of partnering with Leeds Community Foundation to deliver the Pears Youth Fund. Since 2017, we have distributed over £200,000, and this year a further £120,000 will be granted, to small community organisations providing opportunities for young people across Leeds and Bradford.
The Pears Youth Fund was devised in collaboration with Leeds Community Foundation to encourage projects that actively involve young people in their design and delivery, and which have a genuine focus on voice, engagement and influence. So far, 32 projects have been funded enabling young people to increase confidence and self-belief, improve health and wellbeing, find voice in the age of social media and build trust and support networks.
Projects funded include Bradford Community Broadcasting, who hosted a series of training workshops to encourage young women to get involved with producing their own radio programmes, and Eccleshill Adventure Playground, who organised a youth-led design and build of a new play structure in place of their burnt down indoor playroom.
New Wortley Community Centre also received support, and used their funding to set up a Children’s Board at the Centre, to involve young people in the local area in decision making around the Centre’s activities. The Board has had a significant impact helping young people improve their life skills, confidence and recognise the power of their voice.
We’re really looking forward to seeing the ideas and projects submitted this year, and which organisations the grants panel, including young people from previously funded projects, choose to support. This year, for the first time, the fund includes the opportunity for organisations to bid for higher levels of funding in partnership with another group, in response to feedback from previous applicants and grant holders.
Thank you to all the organisations, including their staff, volunteers, young participants and wider support communities, that we have had the pleasure meet through the fund. It’s been a privilege to understand and learn from your approaches. And a big thank you to our partners at Leeds Community Foundation, who manage this fund along so many other sources of critical support to local organisations, and work so hard to consistently reflect on and develop their approaches and processes.
The Pears Youth Fund for 2019 is now open for applications. For more information on how to apply (including details of the briefing event in September), please see LCF’s website: https://leedscf.org.uk/pears-youth-fund-grants