Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report :

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1) Summary of Decision Area:

1.1. This report seeks the approval of the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services for grant applications for 2008/09, totalling £141,151 of former Connexions funding now being administered by the Commissioning Coordination Unit, as part of the revised Children's Services Integrated Grant system.

1.2. The former Connexions 2008/09 budget now being administered by the CCU was £250,000. Following the first phase grant process and report submitted in October 2008, the balance was £126,073 with an additional £20,000 being pooled from Healthy Schools budget to benefit phase two projects that support the health and well being of our young people.

1.3. This phase two is a key part of Hampshire County Council's (HCC) preventative initiative aiming to tackle the problems of social exclusion and underachievement for vulnerable young people. The specific purpose of this round is to strengthen direct access to youth work for young people who may be `harder to reach' and from vulnerable groups, in line with the Support for Young People Agenda.

1.4. The purpose of the grants (maximum awards of £10,000) are to pump-prime services through the VCS to provide direct access to youth work for young people aged 13-19 years old, this can be up to 25 years of age where clients have a learning difficulty and /or disability. Applicants have confirmed that grants would be spent during this financial year, ending 31st March 2009 in line with budget guidelines.

2) Issues Covered in Report:

2.1. This report provides information about work of voluntary organisations who applied for the Children's Services Integrated Grant and seeks grant approvals.

3) Recommendations:

3.1. We recommend that the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services approves grant applications totalling £141,151

MAIN REPORT

1) Purpose of the Report:

1.1. Grants to voluntary organisations listed in this report will enable them to continue with, or expand, their services and undertake projects which will contribute towards the first two priorities of Hampshire County Council (Making Hampshire safer and secure for all and Maximising well-being), towards the outcomes of the Hampshire Children and Young People plan and towards all of the five outcomes of Every Child Matters.

2) Contextual Information:

2.1. All grant monies are former Connexions funding being administered by the Commissioning Coordination Unit.

2.2. All grant applications must be able to show a direct link to the outcomes required by the Children's Act 2004 notably, in helping young people to:

- Be healthy - enjoying good physical and mental health and living healthy lifestyle

- Stay safe - being protected from harm and neglect

- Enjoy and achieve - getting the most out of life and developing skills for adulthood

- Make a positive contribution - by being involved with the community and society, and not engaging in anti social behaviour or offending

- Achieve economic well being - prevented by economic disadvantage from achieving their full potential.

Wherever possible they should also demonstrate that they tackle priority outcomes in the CYPP and LAA performance indicators.

3) Key Issues:

3.1. Grants to voluntary organisations support Hampshire County Council's priority of `Making Hampshire safer and more secure for all' by funding organisations that provide positive activities for children and young people. They also support the priority of `Maximising well being' by funding organisations which deliver services to children and young people, or are run by children and young people. In addition, the grants programmes contribute towards the Every Child Matters outcomes by encouraging young people to stay safe, be healthy, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well being and thereby to contribute to core outcomes in the CYPP.

3.2 All small grant applications are recommended by a representative Scrutiny Panel and have thus been assessed against set criteria before being submitted to the Executive Member. The CCU have co-ordinated a carefully constituted multi-agency panel drawn from the following departments;

· District Service Manager representative

· Voluntary Sector Alliance representative

· Connexions Consortia Manager

· Youth Offending Team representative

All bids were tested for value for money and weighed against local and Hampshire priorities for preventive work with children and young people.

4) Outline of Options:

4.1 Speakeasy Advocacy

Internet Explorers is a self advocacy group for young people aged 11-16 with Asperger's syndrome based in Basingstoke. Funding will pay for an upgrade in the internet Café including monitors. In addition fund the development of the Internet Explorers toolkit for other voluntary sector organisations across Hampshire

A grant of £5,000 is recommended

4.2 Eastleigh Borough & Mencap Society

The project is a personal development course for young people with learning disabilities (18-25) to look at attitudes to risk, in relation to internet safety, alcohol and drug use and sexual activity. Funding will pay for the promotion and administration of the course, venue, refreshments (not lunch) and tutors for the duration of 10 days.

A grant of £7,171 is recommended

4.3 Teenage Drop-in Hedge End

Tadic provides free one to one counselling to young people who need it, which is both accessible and immediate. Funding will pay for counsellor costs, administration support, provision of a private room and screening of all potential clients by an experienced GP. (Dec-March 2009)

A grant of £1,700 is recommended

4.4 Home-Start Eastleigh

Training, supervising and supporting volunteers who visit stressed and socially disadvantaged families with young children in the privacy of the family home. Families are also supported outside the home in the structured group settings run by trained staff. Teenage Parents are offered specialised mentored support to help with their various difficulties. The money would go towards their weekly Brunch Club for teenage parents and parents-to-be where support is offered by trained staff. This would also fun the running cost of two structured 4 week Cook and Eat Workshops.

A grant of £7,232 is recommended

4.5 Oak Meadow Children's Centre

A club for young parents and expectant young parents, with their children, who are under the age of 21. (Funding would only be used to support 14-19 year olds). Organised by a dedicated lead professional who works with local agencies to provide relevant talks, activities and one to one support. The club provides a safe place to meet other young parents, training and education opportunities, learning and play opportunities for children and parents and opportunities for agencies to consult with the young parents to learn more about their needs.

A grant of £2,784 is recommended

4.6 KIDS Fareham

Funding is required for the general operational costs for the KIDS Young Carers Project. Funding will support 17% of running costs including staffing, premises, transport, resources, consumables and activities.

A grant of £10,000 is recommended

4.7 The Bivol Trust

Weekly group of 8-10 young people with learning and physical disabilites aged 16-25 where the focus is on developing their art work and sewing/dressmaking skills, IT skills and marketing. Funding will pay for staffing, art teacher , materials, transport and administrative costs for the period between Jan-March 2009.

A grant of £1,837 is recommended

4.8 Groundwork Solent

Mix up is a youth group for 8-16 year olds, which meets once a week. This is a youth led community focussed programme. The young people supported by youth project officers choose topics these have included;healthy eating, crime and it's consequences, community Garden Clean up days, recycling., climate change, sports. they also hold an event once a month to involve the community in their project. these have included litter picks, tidying up the local church yard, car wash to raise money for local charity. The funding will go towards materials needed for conservation activities.

A grant of £500 is recommended

4.9 British Red Cross

Funding for project worker for one day per week from December 2008 to March 2009 to carry out research and build partnerships within Hampshire with vulnerable groups such as travellers, teenage groups, disabled young people, looked after children. This will leave a legacy for continuation of the project in 2009. Funding will also pay for 8 First Aid and 8 HIV/AIDS related awareness sessions for vulnerable groups

A grant of £4,700

4.10 Dance United

The three week project will give young people in care, young offenders and young people deemed to be 'at risk' from social exclusion an intensive contemporary dance intervention. The project will run for 5 hours per day, 5 days per week for 3 weeks. Funding will pay for 5 individuals from Hampshire to participate in the programme.

A grant of £10,000 is recommended

4.11 Releasing Potential

Contribution towards the cost of boat to enable the Academy to expand. The Academy caters for young people who have been socially excluded with particular focus for those 'in care'. The young people have the opportunity to gain RYA qualifications and in their last year are expected to teach young people starting the programme. At present they teach 200 young people through the Academy and would expect this to increase to 350 through the purchasing of an additional boat, they have already raised £10,000 towards the £20,000 cost.

A grant of £10,000 is recommended

4.12 Hart Neighbourhood Centre

To establish active and innovative youth forums across Hart District to represent the young people of the district aged 13-19 . Working with our client group, School Inclusion Officers, Traveller workers, Connexions, YISP and YOT to engage hard to reach young people in the democratic process and motivate and empower young people. Funding will pay for a series of workshops using art, sport and more traditional methods to engage young people and empower them to take part.

A grant of £4,930 is recommended

4.13 Hart Community Outreach

To provide mobile facilities in the form of converted double deck buses to assist engagement with hard to reach groups of young people. Funding will complete the refurbishment of second bus by purchasing new IT equipment - 6 laptops, TFT screens, computer, installation and training.

A grant of £9,717 is recommended

4.14 Off The Record

Provides direct access to a range of services offering timely and appropriate support to vulnerable, hard to reach and disadvantaged in the area. Funding will contribute to running costs of delivering the Leigh Park Havant service.

A grant of £5,000 is recommended

4.15 Home Start Havant

This project aims to recruit, train, support and supervise volunteers to offer one to one non judgemental, practical and emotional support to families in their own homes who are isolated, have a disability, or who lack family support and experience and are finding parenting a struggle. Collective support in an enclosed group is available. They currently support 16 families where the main carer is under 25 years old.

A grant of £4,000 is recommended

4.16 It's Your Choice

It's Your Choice is a free, confidential and non-judgemental information, advice and counselling service for young people aged 12-25 years living in the New Forest district. The service is delivered by a bank of up to 25 volunteers supported by 2 full time and 2 part time staff. Funding will support the delivery through recruiting freelance workers to work with volunteers.

A grant of £10,000 is recommended

4.17 Hampshire Youth Options

Hampshire Youth Options currently delivers Year 11 Transition projects in Havant and Basingstoke, supporting Year 11 pupils during the transition from school into further education, training or employments and offering additional support for young people who are NEET or at risk of becoming NEET. This funding would allow this project to extend this provision throughout the New Forest.

A grant of £4,500 is recommended

4.18 The Gaming Zone

The Gaming Zone set up 13 months ago as a one night a week venue for young people aged 11-18 to come to feel safe. It has grown to a 4 night a week multi site venue that provides activities for 5-18s as well as being utilised by NAS ( National Autistic Society Rushmoor and Hart Branch) every other Saturday. They offer an alternative to "hanging out" on the street - reducing both perceived and actual anti social behaviour. Their plan is to extend services by providing more for young people who find themselves getting into trouble (aged 13-19) and developing opportunities for 16-19 NEETs

A grant of £4,800 is recommended

4.19 Rushmoor Healthy Living

Delivered in partnership with The Source, TPM supports teenage parents by combining three elements; 1. One to one mentoring (volunteering mentors provide consistent, stable, one to one support to a teenage parent)2. Parenting course. 3. Monthly group meeting (these offer the opportunity for peer support links to develop, alongside delivery of additional parenting / well being information. Funding will contribute towards 2008/09 project costs.

A grant of £6,000 is recommended

4.20 Step by Step

The funding will pay for the cost of Step by Step staffing for two programmes; Positive Evening Activities for Young People and Sexual Health Education Programme. Because of the volatile behaviour and high-risk nature of the group, two members are needed at all sessions.

A grant of £8,000 is recommended

4.21 Parkside (Aldershot & district Mencap)

Contribution towards the adaptation of a minibus to be used to transport teenagers with learning and physical disabilities

A grant of £8,000 is recommended

4.22 Winchester Youth Counselling

Money would be used to employ a 10hr counsellor to provide sessions in Swanmore as these young people are less likely to be able to get to Winchester to attend these sessions. These sessions will be targets at young people who are vulnerable and have dropped out of school or college because of issues relating to drugs, alcohol or mental health.

A grant of £3,280 is recommended

4.23 Street Reach

Winchester Detached Youth Work Project has identified the need for youth café, football matches and access to regular workshops in Dance, Drama , Arts and Music. Funding will pay for staffing, delivery of activites and personal development of up to 450 young people each year.

A grant of £2,000 is recommended

4.24 Youth In Romsey

Youth In Romsey provides a range of services for young people from 12 to 25 years of age who live in the Southern half of Test Valley area. Funding enable the project to continue with the enhanced and extended services being introduced and developing including drugs, alcohol & tobacco awareness and sexual health clinic.

A grant of £10,000 is recommended

4 Conclusions:

4.1 Ongoing work with the organisations listed in this report indicates that the services provided by them seek to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families. They also significantly contribute to the Children and Young Peoples Plan. As such, this report requests the approval of Executive Lead Member for Children's Services for funding.

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5 Recommendations:

5.1 That the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services approves grant applications totalling £141,151 to organisations to youth activity across Hampshire.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION: