Alison Thomas, Cabinet Member for Children's Services at Norfolk County Council.

Ten youth groups across the county have been awarded a share of a £72,000 funding pot from the county council.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

The second round of grants from the youth transition fund saw organisations receive one-off hand-outs ranging from £1,320 to £10,000.

They will help to fund youth workers, young carers’ groups and counsellors as well as other much-needed services.

The grants are part of the county council’s efforts to support projects in the tough economic climate at a time when the authority has decommissioned its youth service completely.

Instead, the authority is setting up seven youth advisory boards in each district of Norfolk. Each will have £45,000 to spend on schemes in their areas.

The youth transition fund, together with a youth innovation fund, aims to bridge the gap as the changes come into effect.

Alison Thomas, county council cabinet member for children’s services, said: “This funding is supporting established voluntary sector groups to continue to provide valuable activities to young people in their communities while we move towards the county’s new model of delivering youth work.

“We know some groups have been experiencing an increase in demand and a pressure on running some activities and groups, following our move away from directly providing youth services and this money is aimed at ensuring they can continue to meet the needs of young people in their communities.”

The biggest beneficiaries were The Iceni Partnership at Swaffham, which has been given £10,000 to fund a youth worker and a counsellor for a year, and West Norwich Partnership, which will use £10,000 towards funding a young person’s activities co-ordinator.

Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Young Carers Project has been awarded £9,874 to fund running costs of its young carers’ group for the next year, while Thetford Community Association, which organises football coaching for local youngsters, gets £8,000 to help with staff costs and volunteer expenses.

Other recipients are: TS Warrior, a cadet unit in the Great Yarmouth area, which has been awarded £9,611; Mancroft Advice Project receives £8,812; Norwich City Community Sports Foundation gets £7,500 for its North Walsham Kickz project; Dereham Community Support Centre has been given £4,811; Rayzone, a Reepham area youth project, has been awarded £2,733; and Diss Youth Group gets £1,320.

It means nearly half of the £250,000 youth transition fund has now been handed out.

Groups wishing to bid for a share of the next round of funding should visit www.momentumnorfolk.org.uk
victoria.leggett@archant.co.uk