The Young People’s Foundations and their networks’ response in John Lyon’s Charity’s Beneficial Area
by Matt Keane, Partnerships & Capacity Building Manager
Matt Keane
When the Charity established the first Young People’s Foundations (YPF) in Barnet, Brent and Harrow with core funding, it was in response to a noticeable decline in the children and young people’s sector in the Charity’s Beneficial Area. This had been caused in part by the impact of austerity on the funding of youth services at a local level and of the support networks that kept the sector talking and working with one another.
The problem in front of us was clear, but the solution was not. Simply stepping in and replacing the lost commissioning was beyond the Charity’s means and not in its charitable objectives. Independent support and representation was needed, which was borough-specific and had capacity to develop relationships with key stakeholders like funders and the private sector who could increase investment, both financial and in-kind, into the sector.
Our solution was the YPF model – member-led charities comprised of organisations that work with children and young people in a local area and importantly embraces partnerships with the public, private and voluntary sectors. The model sees each YPF adapt to meet the needs of its own local Children & Young People (CYP) sector, operating around four key pillars of activity:
- Funding
Supporting the local CYP voluntary sector to become a more viable prospect for external stakeholders to support - Networks
Building trust and brokering relationships between organisations from different sectors to enhance the CYP provision in their local area - Space
Maximising spaces available for local groups to use for activities for children and young people - Access
Compiling information about services in the local area and communicating it to relevant stakeholders
In the few years since the inception of the first three YPFs in Barnet, Brent and Harrow, the YPFs have made major inroads, establishing strong networks of like-minded organisations resulting in successful cross-sector collaborations and reinvigorating the local CYP sector. The Charity has gone on to establish YPFs in each of its five other boroughs which have also achieved this success at a local level.
As the Covid-19 pandemic approached, new and far more threatening challenges appeared for the sector and our young people, that would have devastating short, medium, and long-term consequences. Our eight YPFs were not tailor-made solution for these mounting issues but have been able to demonstrate amazing versatility by focusing, each at their own local borough level, on the response required and meeting the crisis head on.
In March 2020 the YPFs were essential to distribution of borough emergency grant funding and reducing food poverty, whilst also supporting members with training to begin digital delivery. Also essential was support with fundraising , in particular to make applications to the London Community Response Fund (LCRF). Vitally, the YPFs were also filtering and distributing important local communications via their many varied media channels, providing a single line of trusted information for their members. Many of the local relief efforts they became involved in were outside of their usual scope of work, but it has demonstrated their ability to contribute and find and lead solutions in local matters in times of emergency.
Very early into lockdown, Young Ealing Foundation established a temporary food distribution centre for vulnerable households in Southall. The Foundation was made aware of a large number of vulnerable families in and around Southall who were facing severe food poverty in the coming weeks. Young Ealing Foundation gained permission to set up the food distribution service, obtaining a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate, completing a risk assessment and teaming up with its member, Southall Community Alliance to respond to this pressing need. Within a week, Young Ealing had negotiated with Ealing Council to use the Young Adult Centre in Southall as the distribution centre. The Foundation brokered partnerships with local restaurants and surplus food providers to stock the distribution centre, and on the first day the service received 57 referrals, rising to 120 on the second. The Southall Food Hub is still operating today and as of March 2021, 360 households (1320 people) had received support with almost 19,000 food parcels distributed.
The pandemic raised the issue of digital access and its importance as millions of children began home-schooling via online classrooms. Sadly, inevitably it is the most deprived that have the least access. Throughout the pandemic Young Westminster Foundation has been rolling out its Digital Futures project aiming to bridge the digital divide by providing up to 750 laptops and free broadband to Westminster communities impacted by the pandemic. Young Westminster Foundation were able to bring together a collaboration of local businesses together with funding from Westminster City Council Section 106 to procure the devices. Young Westminster then administered an application process for schools in Westminster to apply to the scheme on behalf of the young people. The first laptops went out in December 2020, just in time for the third lockdown, and by the project’s close in April 2021, Digital Futures had had distributed 1,874 devices engaging 47 schools, two supplementary schools, three youth clubs and individually to 10 care leavers in the programme.
At the onset of lockdown, Young Harrow Foundation led a collaboration of strategic partners to develop the Help Harrow portal, designed to give residents a ‘one stop shop’ access point to vital services during the crisis. Young Harrow used its experience of digital development to scope and create the system quickly. During the first six weeks of lockdown, Help Harrow facilitated provision to c5,000 households each week with emergency food and supplies, coordinated through local food banks and volunteers. This was managed entirely through an automated ticket system within the Help Harrow website facility. As lockdown progressed, so did the functionality of Help Harrow, together with resident support available through the portal. Included now is information on bereavement, well-being support and advice referrals, responding as the crisis unfolds to the continuing emerging needs within the borough. As the summer of 2020 approached and restrictions were eased, Young Harrow began to look at the long-term use of the portal and its sustainability. The portal presented an opportunity to build on the heavy traffic on the site and develop the ‘one stop shop’ approach further, adding more third sector provider services for residents beyond the Young Harrow membership base, something that was not part of the initial response. The portal once again became a local lifeline for residents in the latter months of 2020 as the capital slipped into more extreme restrictions culminating in the third lockdown and stay at home mandate.
These examples are just a snapshot of the many ways the YPFs went above and beyond to quickly and efficiently tackle the high priority needs the pandemic brought about in the Beneficial Area for children, young people and their families. The Charity has always envisaged the YPFs as a long-term feature of the sector, and their actions during the pandemic have helped cement their position as a key component in the local landscape.