Grants

Grants Programme Guidelines

Young People and Parents Tackling Violence

Closing Date for Applications: 5pm on 31 October 2008

Aims of the Programme
Young people are the future. However, in order that they are able to grow and develop as responsible and productive citizens they need both protection and support. Parents are crucial in providing this but sometimes they do not know where to turn when things go wrong.

London, like other large cities, can be an unsafe place for young people. One of the most damaging threats to their mental and physical well-being is exposure to violence, including domestic violence. Bullying is almost as damaging. Young people at times can be both the perpetrators and at other times the victims of violence - both the ‘bullies’ and the ‘bullied’.

We want to support work which minimises violence and helps young people recover from violence or bullying where they have been the victims. Parents need more help in supporting their children if they have been victims, but equally need help with what to do if they suspect their children are involved in violence or bullying.

What will we fund?
We will fund organisations for up to a maximum of three years for work which meets at least one of these priorities and where you can demonstrate a track record in the field. This programme will be carefully evaluated and the learning from it disseminated widely.

The priorities are:

• Work with young people aged up to 21 years which provides practical alternatives to using or experiencing violence including ‘bullying’. This might be personal safety training, self-defence techniques, anger management, conflict-avoidance skills and peer-group support.
• Services supporting parents with practical information and skills to support their child as a victim of violence or bullying.

  Or

• Services advising parents on how to deal with a young person on the periphery of, or involved in, violence or bullying.
• Work which gives emotional and practical support to children affected by crime including domestic violence.

Please specify on your application form which of these themes your project is addressing.

Making a Difference
We want to fund projects where you can demonstrate that they will really make a difference to people’s lives. We would like to know how our funding has helped achieve positive changes or “outcomes”. We want you to tell us how your work will contribute to our overall programme outcomes. You will need to demonstrate that your project can contribute to one or more of these and that you have systems in place to collect information on numbers of people who have benefited and how you will measure the changes your work has brought about.

Our Programme Outcomes
We want to fund projects which will achieve one or more of the following:

• more young people aged up to 21 years old having more skills to help them avoid violence
• fewer young people involved in violence or bullying
• fewer young people becoming the victims of violent crime
• more parents having the information and skills to support their children as victims or potential victims of violence
• more young people making an effective recovery from being a victim of crime, including domestic violence
• more parents effectively dealing with a child involved in violence or bullying.

If your application is successful, we will ask you to report regularly on your progress in reaching these outcomes although we recognise that some of these will be long-term. In addition, we will be interested to hear about other outcomes that you may have achieved as well as any unexpected issues that have added to your learning.

Please contact us if you are unclear on what an ‘outcome’ means in your area of work.

Good Practice
Please show how you:

• involve service users in the planning of the service if appropriate
• welcome people of all backgrounds and value diversity
• value and support volunteers
• are taking steps as an organisation to reduce your carbon footprint.

Closing Date for Applications: 5pm on 31 October 2008

Decisions on applications will be made by April 2009 in most instances. Projects will then be expected to commence within six months of a grant being awarded.