New £1.2m social action programme launched for young Customers in our Communities

We have teamed up with Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group, and Sovereign Housing Association to launch a new two-year social action programme to provide opportunities for young residents.  

Working with specialist partners InCommon, Intergenerational Music Making, and Backyard Nature, we will be delivering a programme of activity with the aim of connecting generations and embedding youth social action in Communities nationwide.  

This will also include the creation of a youth-designed online platform to provide tools and resources to support social action projects and an intergenerational board comprising seven younger residents and seven older residents to inform strategic direction and assess grant applications.  

How we will be launching the project for Communities  

The £1.2m programme will be funded by the participating housing associations with additional support from the #iwill Fund – a joint fund from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and The National Lottery Community Fund, that supports young people to access high quality social action opportunities. 

Organisations based across the country will be able to apply for funding of up to £10,000 to deliver Community Ambassador Programmes (CAPs) and mini CAPs for younger residents. These 12-month programmes will offer 5-20-year-olds the tools, resources, and support to embark on a lifetime of social action in their Communities, making a positive difference and providing opportunities to develop new skills.  

All projects will be youth-led, bringing older and younger residents together to collaborate on activities to tackle local issues and explore ways to create more connected Communities across generations.  

In addition, micro-grants of up to £500 will be available for young residents to develop Community projects which connect generations and provide opportunities for social action.  

Clarion Futures, on behalf of the Housing Associations Youth Network (HAYN), became an ambassador and match funder of the #iwill Fund in 2018. To date the charitable foundation has invested more than £3.4m into Communities, inspiring more than 7,000 young people to start their youth social action journey and equipping more than 75 partners with the tools and skills to embed social action across their programmes and Communities.