13 December 2023
Community foundations are invited to apply for up to £50,000 in funding as part of an innovative scheme to empower 18–25-year-old care leavers to enter adulthood independently.
The programme is being led and managed by UK Community Foundations (UKCF), the national membership organisation for accredited community foundations. The Care Leavers Programme aims to give more and better life chances to a broad pool of youngsters leaving care who need extra support at a milestone in their life journey. The programme will be implemented by community foundations working closely with their local authorities, ensuring success by putting it in the hands of those who best know their communities.
This is the first such scheme set up specifically for care-experienced young adults on a nationwide level.
The transition to full adulthood is challenging for most young people even with the backing of parents, friends and mentors. Care leavers, however, are often ill-equipped for this journey. Some of the support they receive ends at the age of 18, often having a detrimental effect on their adult development.
Their prospects can be improved radically by offering a specific package of help, benefitting not just the care leavers themselves but the wider community too.
As announced at the National Children and Adult Services Conference (NCASC) in Bournemouth by Councillor Louise Gittins, the scheme is deliberately structured as a collaboration between local authorities and community foundations so as to facilitate a more lasting, coherent impact. In this way, community foundations can transform and support the lives of care leavers on an ongoing basis by dovetailing the skills and knowledge of local authorities, sending positive ripples across communities.
The Care Leavers’ Programme has been set up nationwide with a total of £3 million in funds available over three years to improve the life chances of care leavers. Accredited community foundations are being invited to bid for up to £50,000 each per year, match-funded £1-for-£1 by LAMIT, a shareholder of investment manager CCLA, as a grant to pay for the basics that any young person needs.
Funding will go towards educational and training bursaries; financial education support, including travel; backing for furniture and white goods purchases; driving lessons; general arts excursions; health and wellbeing costs to name just a few examples.
Cllr Richard Kemp, Deputy Lord Mayor of Liverpool and chair of LAMIT (representing Local Authority investors in CCLA) said:
This innovative scheme will allow young people to get the extra support they would ordinarily get from a kindly grandma and grandpa, helping them out with the things they need as they leave home and set out towards independence. This programme acts as a helping hand along the way.
Rosemary Macdonald, CEO of UKCF said:
We are delighted to be part of this first concerted nationwide opportunity to shore up care leavers at a crucial crossroads in their lives. We are keen to make the impact as practical and wide as possible for these young adults.
Cllr Shaun Davies, Chair of the Local Government Association said:
We are delighted to support this new initiative. More than 11,000 young people become care leavers each year, and while councils provide a wide range of support, the more that our communities can wrap around our young people and help them as they move into adulthood, the more opportunities they will have to thrive.
About UK Community Foundations
UK Community Foundations (UKCF) is a national membership network bringing together people and organisations that want to improve their communities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
There are 47 accredited community foundations in the UK, independently committed to the places they serve. Each one has a deep understanding of their local communities and a commitment to improving places for everyone to live, work and thrive in.
To find out more about the Care Leavers Programme, email: comms@ukcommunityfoundations.org