City Ideas Fund aims to help local organisations connect young people with opportunities

City of Wolverhampton Council has today (Thursday) launched a new City Ideas Fund for businesses and organisations at a major city summit aimed at tackling youth unemployment.

The City Ideas Fund offers a one-off grant of between £500 and £10,000, for city employers, partners, voluntary organisations, community groups and individuals to develop ideas and plans which help young people into jobs and learning.

Applicants to the City Ideas Fund are encouraged, as part of the application process to address some of the key challenges connected with reducing youth unemployment in the City, including:

·       Helping young people to recognise their skills

·       Enabling employers to support young people with limited experience of work

·       Removing barriers to accessing services and employment

·       Engaging with families to support young people with their aspirations

·       Improving access to and awareness of available services

·       Developing more aspirational and engaging skills opportunities

·       Engaging with young people from different backgrounds

Information on eligibility and how to apply can be found online at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/cityideasfund. 

Businesses and organisations are urged to ensure they have all the correct evidence to add to the form and have read the requirements before starting their application.

City of Wolverhampton Council Leader, Councillor Ian Brookfield said:

Leader of the City of Wolverhampton Council, Councillor Ian Brookfield said: “We all need to do our bit to tackle youth unemployment in our city. The Council has carved out an initial war-chest of £3million pounds for Wolves at Work 18-24 to help coordinate a ‘one city’ approach and to develop interventions.

“But we know we do not have all the answers. And that’s why, our first Wolves at Work 18-24 initiative is a new City Ideas Fund with an initial £100,000 to stimulate fresh thinking.

“It’s aimed at employers, partners, voluntary organisations, community groups and individuals to propose creative and innovative ideas which support young people into jobs and learning opportunities.

“For those organisations, this could be something they are already doing which is demonstrating great results such as work experience placements, employment support programmes or partnerships between local businesses and schools. Or it might be something entirely different that partners want to try but just don’t have the resources to do it.

“We need to come together as ‘one city’ – as we’ve done throughout the pandemic - and we need to act because time is running out. We risk presiding over a ‘lost generation’, a generation without hope, aspiration, stockpiling issues that will be harder to solve with the march of time. We cannot keep kicking the can down the road.”

If you have an idea but not sure if it meets the criteria, we encourage you to apply anyway or for more information you can get in touch with the Council by emailing cityideasfund@wolverhampton.gov.uk or calling the City Ideas Fund phoneline on 01902 290242 (option 1) between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday or from 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays.

All application forms submitted are subject to eligibility checks.

Further communication with businesses and organisations may be necessary if any of the required information is missing.

The deadline for the first round of applications is midday on Friday, December 17, 2021.