Children and young people

Includes a report from London Funders recent meeting exploring future provision for children and young people's services

London Funders reports
Less than the price of a first class stamp? 
Report from our recent members meeting exploring future provision of services for children and young people.

External Publications
Early years intervention - the economic case 
GLA Economics has analysed the economic case for early years intervention to address health inequalities in London, reporting that it can provide high returns on investment for individuals and society, ie it is economically efficient for young Londoners’ future life chances and meets the economic growth needs of London, the region with the highest rates of child poverty. 

An evaluation of approaches to commissioning young people's services
A new report published by Ofsted argues that local authorities are giving ‘insufficient consideration’ to the voluntary sector when commissioning services for young people.

The development of Project Oracle
Nesta and Mayor of London, 2012
This paper examines why "many services are unable or unwilling to measure the improvements they make in outcomes for young people” and explains how Project Oracle is remedying this in London by linking youth programmes with academically rigorous and internationally recognised standards of evidence to improve consistency and quality in understanding what does and does not work. Small and large projects are signing up to make use of Project Oracle’s resources. This paper is a summary of the need and the context for Project Oracle, and its experience so far.

Funder collaboration – Fear and Fashion
Independent evaluation of this a major collaborative initiative to understand and devise practical responses to the problem of knife crime involving young people. Supported by five grantmaking foundations - The City Bridge Trust, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, John Lyon’s Charity, Trust for London and The Wates Foundation - it funded four projects to deliver work with young people and the evaluation identifies some significant achievements.

A report from London Youth on how young people become good adults. The report identifies youth work, where young people benefit from trusting relationships with reliable adults, a positive peer group and the chance to learn from a range of new opportunities, as having fallen from fashion at precisely the time when it is needed most.
 
Centre for London has recently published a report which says that young Londoners face a 'poverty penalty' when applying to universities but some schools and boroughs are bucking the trend.The report finds that there doesn't have to be a barrier to higher education and argues that, in a weakened economy, the need for high skills for all is paramount.

Making it matter: improving the health of young homeless people
Depaul UK, 2012
A new report finds that young homeless people have poorer health than their peers, are more likely to use emergency health services and face considerable barriers in accessing the care they need. Depaul has also put together this video highlighting some of the key findings.
 
GLAIntelligence Unit, 2012
A compact description of the various ways in which poverty is defined and measured with a commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of each. The measures covered are: relative poverty, absolute poverty, persistent poverty, material deprivation, low income and material deprivation, income deprivation affecting children index, HMRC child poverty measure, free school meals, and children in workless households.
This 2011 report from NSPCC and Refuge research, commissioned by The City Bridge Trust,highlights the lack of provision for London’s children and young people living with domestic violence.
 
This is the Mayor’s programme for “understanding and sharing what really works” in preventing youth crime and in improving the lives of children and young people in London. The Project Oracle website is now live. Funders as well as providers and advisers are encouraged to register on the site. Effort has been made to keep the functionality simple with the potential to develop further.
 
A paper is based on research commissioned in 2010 by London Councils from London Metropolitan University to help officers and practitioners understand the characteristics of gangs and street groups in London. 
 
NPC applies the principles of economic analysis to three projects using sport to tackle youth crime in different ways. Commissioned by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, the report explores the case for investment in high quality, well-run sports projects as a possible “hook” to engage young people in wider programmes of education and support.

LOOKING FOR FUNDING?

We are not a funder ourselves but here are some tips to get you started