Young people

The Youth Opportunity Fund is now closed for applications until April 2010

Are you aged 13 to 19? Do you and your friends have an idea about how to improve services for young people in Medway?

Medway Council has been given £280,139, to give to the young people of Medway.

The funds are called the Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) and the Youth Capital Fund (YCF). They aim to give a voice to young people and help them influence what facilities are available for young people in Medway. This includes things to do and places to go.

If you are aged 13 to 19, you and your friends can apply for some of this money to fund something you want or would like to do in your area.

The two funds will be used for different projects.

Youth Capital Fund (large projects)

This fund is for large group projects/areas.

To be successful in getting money from this fund, your idea should meet the following criteria:

• Whatever is bought must benefit more than one person. The more people that will benefit, the more likely you are to get an award.
• The item(s) must be legal, have the appropriate permission or consent and not cause a nuisance.

Examples of just a few of the things you could do include:

• helping to build or improve a skate park;
• equipping your youth centre with things like computers or redecorating it to make it more appealing to young people;
• helping to build a shelter in your local park;
• buying a mobile youth centre that could offer services to young people in rural areas.

Youth Opportunity Fund

This fund can be used for facilities, activities, events and campaigns that help 13 to 19-year-olds to:

• be safe;
• be healthy;
• enjoy and achieve;
• make a positive contribution;
• achieve economic well-being.

The activities, events or campaigns should be related to a local need and must benefit more young people than you or your immediate group. In particular, this fund should try to help young people who are disadvantaged by prejudice, isolation, lack of access to facilities or personal challenges.

Examples of things you could do include:

• employing a specialist coach for your sports team;
• increasing the times your youth centre is open;
• starting a youth club;
• training to become an advisor, so you can talk to your friends and peers about things like health and staying safe.

The only limit to how you can spend the money to help young people in Medway is your imagination, provided you meet the grant conditions.

Download the application form (pdf 86KB). To use this file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it on your computer, please use the advice page.

Once your ideas reach the council's Youth Panel, you will receive a letter thanking you for your application and then you will be invited to an interview with young people who will ask about your bid. They will also ask you to provide invoices and prices of equipment or facilities you wish to buy. You will then receive a letter letting you know if your bid has been successful.

Some of the details the panel asks for on the form (such as invoices and Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks) are to enable it to report to the government about what it is doing.

Approved bids

You can find out about the successful bids from last year by selecting the outcome of funding requests link at the top of this page.

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