The children's fund aims to address the gap in preventive services for young people at risk of social exclusion by providing increased and better co-ordinated preventative services for 5 - 13 year olds and their families.
The programme is allocated £ 0.5 per year until 2008. The allocation is based on the proposals within the 2002 delivery plan, developed in consultation with children, young people and their families. Projects have been commissioned based on this consultation.
The 2005 children's fund strategic plan describes the longer term delivery of the programme and how it should work with other services. The programme is required to produce evaluation reports on the programme and the core principles of the children's fund: prevention; participation and partnership. The first report links commissioned projects to the 5 outcomes of the Children Act 2004. The fund has allocated the full allocation of programme resources. It is able to provide support to all voluntary and community groups in Bury who want to work with children, or who work with children already and want to share practice, build partnerships. We can also provide training in gathering valuable evidence for future prospective funders through sound evaluation and user participation systems.
The programme has funded the following initiatives:
3 Junior youth clubs in Chesham, East Bury and Whitefield; Bury reading and information network (BRAIN) from local libraries; family support for children with ADHD; social opportunities for children with disabilities (Re:D); Youth inclusion and support panels with Bury YOT; Accessible swimming*, Park rangers & community sport in parks with leisure services; support for jewish children in need with Manchester jewish federation; Restorative justice with El Nino*; Victim support video*; equal achievement aimed at enabling younger children from Asian heritage backgrounds attain within the curriculum with ADAB; a Jigsaw befriending scheme for children with autism; training and equipment for children with disabilities; Support for parents in schools with NCH; refugee and asylum seeker link worker with CLAS; anti-bullying project* with social services and education welfare service; counselling direct sessions for younger children; young carers health and education project; asian heritage girls group* and, finally, the Particip8 project in a group of Bury schools.
(* denotes short term funding only) .
The programme also has a role in building capacity with local groups who want to provide more opportunities for children in Bury and in developing extended services around schools in order to assist teaching with accessing more support for children and families.
Details of these services are available from the children's fund office, Athenaeum House, Market Street Bury. Tel: 0161 253 7993 or by emailing
Childrens.Services@bury.gov.uk
Childrens fund Evaluation Report
