Youth Opportunity Fund: How we spent it in ... Suffolk

The county of Suffolk includes the urban area of Ipswich, coastal towns and remote rural areas. It was given yearly allocations of £342,823 for its youth opportunity fund and £296,514 for its youth capital fund between 2006 and 2008. The county has set up seven youth panels to consider applications and distribute funds. They run either three or four rounds of funding a year where local young people can apply for money.

How was the panel created? The youth service held meetings with young people from a range of groups in Suffolk. During the meetings, the youth workers shared the aims of the new funds and asked young people what they thought were the main local priorities.

Young people felt it would be best to set up neighbourhood-based panels, so they decided to create seven panels, matching the district boundaries, plus one overarching county panel.

Andy Fell, youth involvement manager for Suffolk County Council, says: "We shared the responsibility with the voluntary sector to set these up and worked with colleagues from leaving care services and Connexions to involve as many young people as possible."

More than 180 young people were involved in the panels between 2006 and 2008, half of whom were from disadvantaged groups.

What were the challenges? Ollie Jacobs, 16, a panel member for Lowestoft, says: "At the start we had a few problems - applications were getting to panel stage that shouldn't have. But, with support from our youth workers, we refined the application form and guidance and we are more efficient now. We've also learned how to conduct the panel interviews better."

Feedback from detached workers also indicated that the county panel application form was too complicated for some young people. This led to the creation of "meet the panel", where young people could pitch their ideas for funding directly to the young grant makers. "It was one of the best things they did," says Fell. "When you meet the young people applying for money you can see their passion."

What do young people say? Ollie has travelled all over Suffolk providing support to other panels. He feels the panels have achieved a lot: "It's been successful - I don't think we've made any bad decisions and the youth workers are here to guide us through any technical issues, so there's a lot of trust in us."

Each round has taken up about 50 hours of Ollie's time but he says it has been worth it. "I recently spoke about the youth opportunity fund to an audience of 80 people - I could never have done that before," he says. "The best thing is meeting different people - especially those with mental health problems."

The future? Some of the panels are using part of their money to develop a new commissioning model. "We had a look at the overall picture and tried to see what's missing locally. We realised there was widespread need for free and cheap sports and leisure activities," says Fell. "We can go to our borough and district colleagues and buy slots in their provision that young people can access. We're now also looking at community cohesion residentials - supporting groups to get together who wouldn't normally meet. It's all part of moving on from supplying DJ equipment to young people and having more influence."

WHERE THE MONEY WENT

Waterfront Youth Project

The project received £9,318 from the youth capital fund to create a multi-media studio and recording suite at Ipswich's Waterfront Community Centre, and £7,376 from the youth opportunity fund to help with costs and to employ a music tutor. MCs Shotz, Magicool and Temprahmental wrote in a report for the council that the facilities helped them to record material they can use on their websites and mixtapes. "Staff are welcoming and understand the music culture we represent and help us make it more professional," they said. "On the downside we need more space - there's a limit of 10 people in the room and on busy nights we have up to 30 people wanting to access the studio."

Urban Ateles

Urban Ateles, which means urban monkeys, is a parkour group created in 2007 that is funded by its own members. The group was awarded a total of £11,000 from the youth opportunity fund and youth capital fund to kit out the gym at Childer Road Youth Centre, Stowmarket, with equipment for parkour and free running and to run classes on Friday nights at the youth club. The two-hour-long beginner sessions are open to 12- to 19-year-olds and cost only 50p to attend. Sam Thomas, founder of the group, says parkour is ideal for young people. "It causes you to see things in a different way. Everyday objects are seen in the same way a child would see a play park," he says.

Bounce Project

Young people from the market towns of Beccles, Bungay, Halesworth and Southwold organised an event that would bring them together. The idea was to let them get to know each other and share ideas during a country walk with an overnight camp and a music event "in a field in the middle of nowhere". The project was awarded a grant of £2,252 from the youth opportunity fund to cover the costs. The young people planned the walk with help from the Ramblers' Association. Cara, 16, one of the young people involved, commented: "It was a bit weird to be in control of the event and not to just turn up and enjoy something. I learned how to work in a team and that I can do more than I thought."