Young people in the Harrogate area who wish to develop projects which support their local communities are being offered vital funding from a business partner working with North Yorkshire County Council’s youth support service.
Vocalink, the international smarter payments partner, has become a sponsor of the charity Keyfund an award-winning charity for the North East, set up 19 years ago with a mission to provide young people with opportunities to develop the skills, confidence and self awareness needed to achieve their potential in life.
Vocalink has developed a formal community agreement with the charity, pledging its support over the next two years.
In the last year alone Keyfund in North Yorkshire has supported around 1,000 young people with grants administered through the county council’s 4Youth service. These grants provide funding from £250 to £2,000 to young people with initiatives beneficial to their communities. These vary from art projects, outdoor education, team building to organising music gigs. The young people work together to design, budget and develop their own projects.
Vocalink’s support will help to fund vital projects that young people in the Harrogate area wish to undertake. Moreover Vocalink has trained members of its staff to become community panel members for Keyfund. The Keyfund panel gives young people the experience of presenting the development of their projects before community and business leaders and other young people.
Arthur Barker, North Yorkshire’s executive member for the youth service said: “Our business partners are vital to the success of Keyfund which does so much to help young people across our region develop skills such as decision making and time planning that will not only benefit their own communities but which are highly valued in the jobs market.”
Mark Chapman, chairman of CSR at Vocalink said: “Central to the Vocalink ethos is supporting and inspiring young people, an ethos that Keyfund embodies. As an employer, it’s important to us to create sustainable benefits in our local community and we are delighted to help these youngsters develop new skills.
