An additional £4m is being pumped into a fund aimed at creating thousands of new volunteering, social action and community activities for young people.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced today that it would invest a further £2m into #iwill fund, which would be match-funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
Since its launch in 2016, the fund has invested £54m in collaboration with over thirty funders, to create more than 650,000 opportunities for young people through hundreds of programmes in England, with a particular focus on benefitting those from disadvantaged backgrounds, the DCMS said.
Baroness Barran, the Minister for Civil Society, said: “I’m acutely aware of how the pandemic has impacted the lives of young people, and I can reassure them that it’s a government priority to ensure they are supported and given access to opportunities that can help them develop and grow.”
The fund distributes its investment through working in partnership with other funders.
The NLCF said there were four drivers that underpinned its investment including creating high quality opportunities that connect young people authentically to causes they can address and a continued focus on reaching young people from less socio-economically affluent communities.
David Knott, interim chief executive at the NLCF, said: “The work of the fund has had an incredible impact on young people, empowering them to design and deliver projects that will benefit their peers, their communities and young people of the future.”
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