Council awarded £925k to improve youth services

Nottingham City Council has been awarded £925,000 in government funding to improve youth services across the city.

The confirmation comes after the authority was one of eight councils chosen to create a Young Futures Hub, a centre which will bring together youth workers, education and employment support, before the scheme is rolled out across the country.

The grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is part of the government's plan to spend £500m on youth services in England over the next decade.

Cheryl Bernard, the authority's executive member for children and young people, said the funding ensures that "every young person in Nottingham has the opportunity to thrive."

The Young Futures Hub will be based at Beaumont Community Centre in Beaumont Street, Sneinton.

A grant of £125,000 will go towards refurbishing the space to make it ready for the new youth hub.

A spokesperson for Nottingham City Council said: "Beaumont Community Centre provides a suitable, central, and accessible location to establish a visible youth‑led space that can bring together services across mental health, education, employment, safeguarding, and community opportunities."

The council will also receive a further £800,000 for a youth transformation programme, which aims to provide more opportunities and coordinated support for young people across the city.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Marcellus Baz, founder and chief executive of youth charity Switch Up, previously said he was encouraged by the plan.

"Front line organisations like ours have been calling for this for years, it's a long time coming," he said.

"To make a real difference, this investment must be rooted in grassroots partnerships; organisations which already have the trust of young people and have been holding our communities together through the toughest years.

"If we get this right, we are not just preventing a 'lost decade', we are building a generation of resilient, skilled, hopeful young people who can drive Nottingham forward."

The funding is set to be formally accepted at a council meeting on 17 March.

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