Youth charities get £2m boost

In each of the cities — Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, London, Newcastle and Manchester — one charity has been selected to receive £280,000 from the Co-operative Foundation, the grant-making arm of the Co-operative Group, to help establish projects designed to challenge and change the widespread negative perceptions of young people.

Charities in the seven targeted cities were invited to pitch to a Co-operative Foundation judging panel and its trustees earlier this year.

All seven charities have now been selected and, with support from the Foundation, they will begin to deliver their two-year long programmes to transform the negative perceptions of young people in their communities.

Truth About Youth is one of several initiatives being undertaken by The Co-operative to support young people — one of three priorities chosen by over 50,000 of the Group’s members to shape the society’s Community Plan.

Mike Fairclough, the Group’s Head of Community and Campaigns, explained: “Truth About Youth is about helping young people deal with the challenges of growing up in a culture that has widespread negative perceptions of youth.

“We hope that by working with our seven charity partners and supporting projects which enable young people to work with adults, the media and the wider community, we will be able to make a real difference.”

The Co-operative’s seven Truth About Youth charities are: Birmingham, Envision; Bristol, The Prince’s Trust (Bristol); Cardiff, YWCA; Glasgow, Young Scot; London, The Oval House Theatre; Manchester, The Royal Exchange Theatre; Newcastle, Regional Youth Work Unit (NE).