Brighton & Hove City Council has pledged an additional £90,000 investment in youth services in the coming financial year under proposals agreed last Thursday.
TDC will be one of a collective of local youth work providers who are expected to receive extra funds to deliver programmes of youth work across the city.
With youth services funding subject to drastic shrinkage across the entire country over the past few years, cuts were announced in Brighton & Hove towards the end of 2016. But following a passionate campaign by young people to protect youth services, city Councillors listened to concerns and decided against the initially proposed reductions in funding.
This forward-thinking approach showed an understanding of the importance of youth work and the impact it can make on the lives of young people, and now funding for youth services across the city has been made a priority for extra investment in this coming financial year.
A “cross party youth work steering group” has been set up to decide how youth funds are spent. The group includes representatives from all three political parties and from youth groups across the city who participated in the discussion on Thursday about how best to distribute the funds.
The £90,000 extra spend on youth work is part of a package of additional funding, worth £460,000, to improve support for young people in Brighton and Hove. This includes:
- £90,000 for short breaks and day support for young people with learning disabilities
- £40,000 to support young people struggling with or at risk of substance misuse
- An extra £70,000 for a mental health support scheme for secondary school children to extend its reach into further education colleges to support 16- to 19-year-olds
- £156,000 to tackle the exploitation of children and vulnerable young people through so-called “county lines” crime. Part of this money will be spent on targeted youth work.
Adam Muirhead, TDC youth team Project Manager and Chair of the Institute for Youth Work, welcomed the decision: “Local politicians from across different parties in Brighton and Hove have really tried to listen to young people,” he said. “They have then put their money where their mouth is by being supportive of young people, empowering them and being protective of youth services.”
We look forward to working with our partners and the Council to deliver the extra youth activities this funding will allow, and positively impacting even more young people across Brighton & Hove.