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Press Releases
Positive Destinations: a new grant programme from 91Èȱ¬ Children in Need and
The Hunter Foundation
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91Èȱ¬ Children in Need and The Hunter Foundation are delighted to announce a UK-wide £2million grants programme: Positive Destinations.
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Funding will be awarded to innovative and effective projects that have the potential to deliver positive outcomes to some of the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK.
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The programme will take place over three years and is aiming to award three large grants of around £500,000 each and three smaller grants which will have the remaining £500,000 divided between them.
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"After the end of compulsory schooling, one in ten pupils is not in education, employment or training." [1]
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Positive Destinations aims to deliver sustainable support to these young people to ensure that they achieve a positive future in terms of education, employment or training.
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The funders will seek projects that target either key points in determining a young person's future (ie pre-school, transition from primary to secondary education and the 14-16 year period prior to work or further education) or an holistic approach to this problem.
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This collaboration came about after Sir Tom Hunter pledged £1million to the 91Èȱ¬ Children in Need Appeal.
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Positive Destinations highlights the common ground between 91Èȱ¬ Children in Need and The Hunter Foundation, particularly in ensuring that children and young people have an opportunity to achieve their potential.
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"More than 1.2 million 16-24 year olds in England, Scotland and Wales – almost a fifth of the age group – are not in education, training or employment, according to research, which calculates that this 'lost generation' is costing the country £3.65billion a year." [2]
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As an integral part of tackling the causes as well as the effects of disadvantage, projects will be expected to generate learning and ensure the sustainability of their work beyond the life of Positive Destinations funding.
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Active research will enable the projects to adapt as they go to maximise impacts.
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"The Government's own figures estimate that each new young person dropping out of education at 16 will cost the taxpayer an average of £97,000 during their lifetime. The worst will cost more than £300,000." [3]
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In turn the funders are seeking to enable collaborative partnerships and systemic change in delivering success in this critical area for the UK.
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All the projects selected will be independently evaluated and the findings presented to offer alternative solutions.
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David Ramsden, Chief Executive, 91Èȱ¬ Children in Need, said: "We are really excited to be launching this collaboration. We believe that the funding will make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable children and young people."
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Ewan Hunter, Chief Executive, The Hunter Foundation, said: "Opportunity for all is what we believe in. Every young person deserves the chance to shine, hopefully through Positive Destinations we can show there are ways of making that a reality on a small scale for larger scale adoption in future."
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Notes to Editors
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Full details will be available from 1 February 2008 on bbc.co.uk/pudsey.
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Applications will be via an online application form only and will be selected according to Positive Destinations criteria.
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The deadline for applications is 30 March 2008.
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This programme is additional to 91Èȱ¬ Children in Need's normal grants programme.
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91Èȱ¬ Children in Need is a registered charity, number 802052.
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The 2008 91Èȱ¬ Children in Need Appeal will take place on Friday 14 November 2008.
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The Hunter Foundation is a venture philanthropy organisation and is a registered charity founded by Sir Tom and Lady Marion Hunter.
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[1] Children and Young People Today report (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2007)
[2] The Cost of Exclusion (Prince's Trust and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, 2007)
[3] www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR346.pdf Ìý
91Èȱ¬ Children in Need Publicity
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