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London Borough of Harrow - The Centenary Park Sports Youth Project

The Centenary Park Sports Club in Harrow used to host a hugely popular series of football and tennis tournaments that kept local teenagers off the streets. But due to the state of the pitch, the tournaments had to be suspended.

With the help of Harrow Youth Services, 20 young people who played sport at the park started raising funds to fix the facilities. They won a grant from the Youth Capital Fund and the pitch resurfacing starts in April. Young people are already putting their names down for the next round of competitions and the group hope that the safer playing surface will let local young disabled people take part too.

Lancashire County Council - The Youth Arts Cinema

Teenagers  who attend the Youth Arts Cinema group in Lancaster develop more than just their ability to perform in front of or behind the camera. They come from different backgrounds and some have serious social and personal issues.  Just being able to attend boosts their self confidence.

The project had no editing equipment and only one old camera, so a group of young people applied for Youth Opportunity funding to buy professional camera, sound and editing equipment. They now hope to increase the group’s reach by lending equipment to young people in nearby rural areas – creating smaller groups of film makers.

Nottingham City Council - Oliver Hinds Youth Club

The Oliver Hinds Youth Club is open to young people from across Nottingham and is proud of its reputation for welcoming everyone, no matter what their age or background.

The club is the only one in the area and a group of club members wanted to offer more activities to attract others from the community.  Six young people – representing the varied ethnic backgrounds of the club’s members –planned the renovation of the Astroturf pitch and got a grant from the Youth Capital Fund.

Young people from the local area can now use the pitch to hold football games and tournaments. The club also plans to hold ‘staying safe’ workshops to help those who hang around on the streets to stay out of trouble, and they have plans to invest in a computer room to help those who have dropped out of school.

Southampton City Council - The S*tar Project

Southampton suffers from high rates of sexual abuse and violence, often involving young people.

To tackle the problem, Southampton Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Counselling service set up the S*tar project (Southampton Together Against Rape), a service for young people that has been running across the city for nearly seven years.

Youth Funds money paid for a series of workshops looking at sexual health and relationship issues. Over a period of six weeks the S*tar team works with 14 and 15 year olds in a local school, who then talk to classes of 12 to 13 year olds about the issues, drawing on their own experiences, making the lessons a lot more interesting and powerful.

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council - Fairfield Music Project

Fairfield Young People’s Centre in Stockton-on-Tees gives young people from ages and backgrounds with an interest in music to come together and have fun.

After getting help through the Youth Opportunity Fund, those who used the centre voted to buy a new drum kit, mixing decks and other music production equipment. They regularly hold DJing or MCing competitions and a ‘battle of the bands’ night, as well as other activities.

They want to produce CDs and DVDs of their music and upload songs onto the internet. But first they hope to take part in the Stockton International Riverside Festival and encouraging others in the area to join in.

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council - MAD Youth Steering Group

After the Boxing Day tsunami, 16 year old Rachel Ferguson and her friends from Walsall MAD decided to raise money for Sri Lanka’s victims by putting on a series of local talent shows with DJs, live bands, poetry reading and comedy.

Rachel and her friends involved as many people as possible and prepared presentations, advertised in schools and local papers and contacted local businesses for donations. They designed the show’s tickets and programmes and arranged for each performance to be recorded for DVD.

Youth Funds money was used to cover part of the cost of the events and to publicise it. The shows raised £3,000, two thirds of which will help fund a classroom for young people in Sri Lanka. The remaining £1,000 is being donated to a Sri Lankan community which Rachel and her friends hope to visit this summer to help rebuild a playground.