From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone TD, today launched a new targeted youth funding scheme entitled, UBU - Your Place Your Space, which provides over €38.5 million for youth services.
UBU - Your Place, Your Space brings together four already existing, overlapping schemes with a value of over €38.5 million. The scheme aims to provide services that support young people to develop the personal and social skills required to improve their life chances. These include services covering health, education, employment and social connectedness. The scheme targets young people who are marginalised, disadvantaged, or vulnerable.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Zappone acknowledged the vitally important role that youth services play in the lives of young people across the country:
‘‘For many young people, the relationship they have with their youth worker is the most significant relationship in their lives. These relationships must be valued and supported. It is my hope that through the implementation of UBU - Your Place, Your Space we now have in place a funding programme and framework which will allow strong and stable youth services to flourish.’’
UBU - Your Place, Your Space was designed in collaboration with young people, the youth sector, and Education and Training Boards over the last five years.
The Minister continued:
“I am so happy to be taking the next step on this important journey. The launch of UBU – Your Place, Your Space contributes to the broader efforts of my colleagues across Government in acknowledging that a positive community context can enable engagement and play a part in breaking the cycle of disadvantage.”
UBU - Your Place, Your Space aims to ensure minimal disruption to provision for young people. That’s why projects already funded under the previous four schemes will continue to be funded based on an evidenced demonstration of young people’s needs by Education and Training Boards.
The new scheme will help deliver the National Drugs Strategy goal of improving services for young people at risk of substance misuse in socially and economically disadvantaged communities.
Applications will open in 2020, with a view to having the scheme fully operational before the end of 2020.
ENDS
The government approved the launch of UBU - Your Place, Your Space, and its implementation in 2020, at the Government meeting of 10 December.
In line with the department’s strategic objective of ensuring high standards of compliance on governance and accountability, a Value for Money and Policy Review of the Youth Funding Programmes (VFMPR) was conducted in 2013.
The VFMPR examined three of the targeted funding schemes administered by the DCYA:
These three schemes support the provision of youth services for young people aged 10-24 who are at risk of drugs, alcohol misuse, early school leaving, homelessness, or who are living in disadvantaged communities. A key recommendation of the VFMPR advocated that the three funding schemes be amalgamated into one funding scheme for targeted youth programmes.
The current value of the funds relevant to the reform is approximately €40 million per year.
Young people aged 10-24 years who are described in the National Youth Strategy as marginalised, disadvantaged, or vulnerable will be the primary target group for services available through UBU Your Place Your Space.
Young people experiencing economic, social and cultural disadvantage.
This includes:
Marginalised young people whose specific circumstances limit their opportunities including, but not limited to:
Young people who are vulnerable or at risk of not flourishing including, but not limited to:
In the first policy cycle of UBU Your Place Your Space, there are three strands of funding available:
The outcomes sought by UBU Your Place Your Space are informed by the high-level national outcome areas set out in Better Outcomes Brighter Futures (BOBF) and the corresponding objectives in the National Youth Strategy.
The specific seven personal and social development skills encompassed within the provision of UBU Your Place Your Space are: