Get involved

Hackney Youth Opportunity Fund

Are you a young person in Hackney with a project that could improve other young people’s lives, promote each other in a positive way, and challenge others to take part in active citizenship or educational opportunities?

Applications for the Hackney Youth Opportunity Fund are now closed. Applications will open again in Spring 2024.

The Youth Opportunity Fund supports projects that are run by and for young people in Hackney. All projects should be youth-led, with young people involved in coming up with the project idea, planning the project and making it happen. The panel who assesses the applications is made up of young people from Hackney Youth Parliament.

We believe that projects designed and run by young people are more fun to take part in and bring greater benefits to young people in Hackney.

Please note: if your project is shortlisted, you will be invited to give a presentation or send a video of your presentation on your project INSTEAD of completing an interview.

We expect the young people listed on the application to lead on the presentation/video presentation.

We want you to apply to the fund and consider how you could create a project that is linked to the cost of living crisis.
Over the past 12 months we have been experiencing a cost of living crisis that has impacted many children and families across the UK. We would like to grant money to young people who have ideas or projects that could support young people to access activities of their choice without the worry of costs.

Hackney Youth Parliament are prioritising applications that show how young people are able to make positive activities or opportunities that will benefit other young people in their community. HYP would also like projects to reach out to young people from all communities and encourage new members to take part, as well as working with adults from all ages to encourage communities to work together and improve relationships by learning more about each other.

You will need to think about how you do this and the following ideas will help you. You could think of one or more of the following as suggestions:

ACCESS TO CREATIVE ARTS/THEATRE
CAMPAIGNS THAT RAISE AWARENESS AND CHALLENGE OPPRESSION
GETTING YOUNG PEOPLE HEALTHY AND ACTIVE
COMMUNITY EVENTS THAT RAISE ASPIRATIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS TO RAISE AWARENESS
RESOURCES FOR LEARNING/HOMEWORK
FUN ACTIVITIES TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER AFTER LOCKDOWN
RESIDENTIAL EDUCATIONAL TRIPS
EDUCATIONAL DAYS OUT
WORKSHOPS AND DEBATES
EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES
PRODUCING RESOURCES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
CELEBRATION EVENTS
TRAINING OR SKILLS CLASSES
NEW EXPERIENCES

Think about these things to make your application stand out from the rest.

Promoting equality and diversity, i.e. celebrating diversity in our community and creating a fairer and more equal society
Helping young people to become stronger and more resilient, i.e. young people become better at dealing with failure, difficult situations or challenges and they bounce back and recover more quickly
Community cohesion, i.e. helping different groups in the community to understand each other, be able to work together and develop good relationships
Improve the health and wellbeing of young people in the borough
Preparing young people for future success

YOF Rules and Guidance

YOF grants are available for up to £5000. You can request any amount between £500 and £5000.

To apply for a grant, you must be part of a group. Your group needs to be made up of three or more young people and you must be linked to a community organisation, youth organisation, school or college. Your adult sponsor should be from this organisation.

The idea must come from young people and this should be clearly demonstrated in your presentation/video presentation. We will want to see the three young people who created the application at the presentation or interview.

All projects must:

Be youth led – young people leading on planning and delivery where possible. This should be demonstrated in the presentation/ video.
Be prepared to present/ send your video about your project to the panel.
Be for young people aged 6-19 (or up to 25 if the young person has a disability or learning difficulty).
Provide positive activities or opportunities for young people or raise awareness to promote young people in the community and challenge media stereotypes.
Support young people to learn new skills – this includes social skills, for example, making new friends, or joining your organisation.
Be value for money and free for young people to attend or take part in.
Be submitted by the deadlines outlined above and delivered in the relevant time period.
Deliver most activities in Hackney, unless the money is funding a trip or residential.

All applications, presentations and videos must:

Tell us how young people are involved in the planning and delivery of your project.
Demonstrate value for money by providing a detailed budget that includes any additional funding sources.
Show how your ideas are new and creative.
Show how you plan to get young people to take part in your project.
Show how you will make sure that young people from a range of backgrounds will be able to take part in your project.
Attend a short interview (online) with Hackney Youth Parliament.

As a group delivering a project, you will need to:

Collect evidence on your project activities and what you have achieved so you can evaluate your success.
Submit a report on your project once it is completed.
Provide all invoices and receipts when request
Provide a breakdown of numbers attending and ages.

NOTE: If you are successful in your application, your project may be visited by a group of young people from Hackney Youth Parliament.

Please send completed applications to yof@hackney.gov.uk, or by post to:

Kane Sewell
The Youth Opportunity Fund
Young Hackney
Hackney Service Centre (2nd Floor)
1 Hillman Street
E8 1DY

Project examples

Forest Road Seniors Girls’ Group’s successful bid allowed them to participate in a fun-filled residential weekend, engaging in team-building and outdoor adventure activities.

With the remaining funding, the Girls’ Group also helped girls aged 12 in the Transitions group to go on their own residential, which became their graduations for finishing Juniors and moving up into Seniors.
The Young Hackney Sport & Play Ambassadors successfully applied for YOF funding to purchase bikes. Some of the Ambassadors got to test them out.

The bikes have enabled different young people who attend Eastway to develop their cycling skills and physical health whilst participating in a fun activity.