£450,000 YES fund now live for projects focused on preventing serious violence and protecting young people
The Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) goes live for the second year today (Friday 9th May) offering £450,000 for projects focused on preventing serious violence by creating brighter futures for young people across Merseyside.
The fund was unveiled by Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Emily Spurrell, and the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP) last year with the aim of unlocking the potential of thousands of young people across the region by providing safe, engaging opportunities.
In its first year, the huge cash investment was used to provide diversionary activities for nearly 12,000 young people helping them to gain new skills, increase their confidence and resilience and fill their time with memorable experiences throughout the year.
Now, the PCC and MVRP want to build on that success by releasing the YES Fund for a second year.
They are inviting community groups, charities and third sector organisations to submit their bids for projects running which will support young people, through programmes offering arts, culture and sports programmes. For the first time, this year, there is also a call for projects which can offer young people digital skills, helping them to stay safe online, recognise mis-and dis-information and protect themselves virtually.
Grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 are available for projects and programmes which give young people under 25, the opportunity to gain valuable skills and qualifications, build their confidence and make positive decisions for the future.
Projects can run throughout the year, with a focus on times when issues can traditionally increase, such as during the summer holidays and the autumn half term when young people are not in school and there may be little for them to do.
The money will be focused in areas of Merseyside which have seen the highest levels of violence and the biggest cuts to youth services, with the aim of keeping young people safe and supported and helping to steer them away from trouble.
Last year, the investment was used to run a wide variety of initiatives focused on reaching and supporting at risk young people. This included youth workers going out in hotspot areas to engage with young people to mental health courses and leadership training, forest school activities, free sports coaching and more much.
Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell said: “From graffiti and art classes to music sessions and DJing, capoeira, sports sessions and forest schools, last year our YES projects offered an amazing array of activities and opportunities for young people across our region, all focused on keeping them safe and preventing them from getting drawn into dangerous or harmful behaviour.
“We’re determined to build on the success of the first year of our Youth Empowerment Scheme by reaching even more young people and offering them opportunities which help to unlock their potential and put them on the right life path.
“Investing in prevention and early intervention is essential if we are to reduce serious violence in our communities. We know this works. Serious violence is falling and by working with our brilliant community and third sector organisations we can continue to build safer. brighter futures for young people on Merseyside.
“I can’t wait to see what opportunities we can provide to support and inspire our young people over the year ahead.”
Director of the MVRP, Superintendent Georgie Garvey added: “The MVRP has supported a staggering 145,619 young people since we started work in 2020. The feedback from the young people involved with last year’s YES projects, as well as the organisations which ran them, is incredibly inspiring and encouraging. Even some of the smallest grants were used to run projects which made a massive difference in the lives of the young people they reached.
“By announcing the second year of our hugely successful YES fund we are determined to build on this work, giving even more young people positive opportunities and addressing the root causes which may cause them to make poor life choices.
“Poverty, inequality, and a lack of opportunities can all play a big part. Working with our fantastic grassroot organisations across our region, we are focused on investing in and protecting our young people and providing opportunities which significantly reduce their chance of ever becoming involved in violence.
“We firmly believe that violence is preventable, not inevitable and through the YES fund, we are focused on delivering targeted projects which help young people to make positive choices for the future.”
Grassroots organisations which are interested in applying are invited to get advice and support to submit a bid at an information session at Prescot Community Fire and Police Station on Cables Way, Manchester Road, at 10am on 23rd May.
The YES will be administered by the Community Foundation for Merseyside (CfM) which holds funds from individuals and organisations as donors who wish to support deserving causes in Merseyside.
Programmes Manager at CfM, James Proctor said: “The YES Fund is a fantastic funding opportunity to support our local grassroots community organisations and their engagement work with young people.
“It is so important to recognise and support the valuable community projects delivered throughout the year, including key periods such as the summer school holidays and Autumn half-term period, which allow young people to get involved in sporting, cultural, digital, educational and crucially, fun activities which keeps them safe and helps to both reduce and prevent violence and anti-social behaviour.”
All applications must be submitted online via the Community Foundation for Merseyside by close of play on Friday 6th June 2025.
Please visit their website to apply - Youth Empowerment Scheme - CFM