February 2012
Government announces push to create new youth group places
£10m cash boost announced to train thousands
of new volunteer leaders, increasing youth group places across the
country, offering young people valuable opportunities.
Today's Government announcement by Communities Secretary Ed
Pickles will give a boost to training new volunteer leaders for
national youth groups like the Scouts, Guiding and Police Cadets
over the next two and a half years.
Youth United, a coalition of the major youth volunteering
organisations established by the HRH The Prince of Wales and
supported by The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation, will
recruit and train up 2,700 new adult volunteers to run 400 new
youth groups in communities across the country. This will mean over
10,000 more young people will be able to join a youth group, pack
or troop.
Under the ambitious new programme, Youth United organisations
will target funding to kick-start much loved youth and volunteering
activities in communities where historically there have been
limited opportunities, because the few adults with the right skills
and experience have needed the additional support from new
volunteers.
Pickles made the annoucement today, saying that:
Scouts, Guides and the Cadets have a
tremendously proud and successful history of giving young people
the kind of fun, life skills and experiences they can’t get
anywhere else. They rely on the goodwill and dedication of trained
adult volunteers to provide this community service, which brings
young people of all backgrounds and beliefs together.
He continued, "Over 1.5m young people are regularly involved but
many more want to join – with more volunteer leaders needed to
bring waiting lists down – every young person in the country should
have the chance to participate if they want to.
"The help we are giving today will mean Youth United groups can
train a new generation of local volunteers to run a new cub pack or
guiding patrol and make all the difference in fifteen communities
that face some significant challenges”.
Rod Jarman, the Chair of the Youth United
Board, said:
This is a wonderful opportunity for us to make
a significant difference in youth provision in a number of areas
across England... We now have a real chance to engage more adults
and let them experience and gain form volunteering to help others
and to identify new ways of working to provide good accommodation
from which the units can work.
The Prince of Wales’s charities, including The Prince’s Trust,
will be working together to improve the prospects of young people.
Last year, more than three in four young people supported by The
Prince’s Trust moved into work, education or training. The Prince
of Wales’s charity has helped more than 650,000 young people since
1976 and supports 100 more each day.
Ginny Lunn, Director of Policy at The Prince’s Trust, said:
Growing up without a positive adult role model
can have a devastating impact on a young person’s self-esteem and
future prospects. At The Prince’s Trust, we provide young people
with role models to help them into work. A little guidance goes a
long way, as these young people often inspire the next generation
of youngsters to turn their lives around in the same way that they
have.
The deprived areas identified where this money can make the
biggest impact are spread across the country. Additionally, the
four areas which will be targeted as HRH The Prince of Wales’s
priority areas for helping young people are Tottenham, Burnley,
Stoke-on-Trent and Redcar and Cleveland.