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The scale of the funding crisis faced by those of us working in universal
youth services has been highlighted in a recent report by Unison and in the
Guardian. Under-investment in young people is a betrayal of future
generations and risks adding to the challenges we already face around
division, inequality, health, crime, education and employment.
However, Unison’s report also raises questions about the role of the
voluntary and private sectors in helping to fund and deliver services. Local
authority youth services are not, and never have been, the only answer.
Services delivered by the voluntary sector, and funded in part through
donations, have always worked alongside and in partnership with council
services, adding diversity, creativity and breadth to the collective offer
made to young people.
Across the UK, there are many examples of
successful transformations that are overcoming financial constraints and
protecting vital youth services. These collaborations enable councils to
create effective partnerships with the voluntary and private sectors, while
maintaining control over the quality and direction of universal youth
services. Supporting the involvement of other sectors opens up new
opportunities to create diverse and sustainable funding streams.
Our
charity, Onside Youth Zones, has been able to create a network of new youth
centres in financially straitened times because our model removes
over-reliance on any single source of funding. This philanthropic community
partnership allows councils to combine their budgets with private and third
sector funding – as well as revenue directly generated via the young people
who use the services, who pay 50p each visit.
Their nominal
contribution, along with the time donated by hundreds of volunteers,
demonstrates the value the community places on the service. This is a true
partnership creating a community-wide level of participation and ownership
that is vital to long-term success.
Innovation also opens up the
opportunity to work with a growing number of philanthropists, corporates and
charitable trusts that are looking for ways to improve the health, wellbeing
and employability of young people.
Increasingly these supporters are
not looking to make passive charitable donations. Instead, many want to make
social investments that allow them to play a more active role in supporting
their communities.
Far from being a threat to the quality of
services, the involvement of private sector supporters brings significant
additional value if they are engaged within the right framework.
The
Guardian article included a telling quote from Sandra Richardson of Knowsley
Youth Mutual: “It’s a really difficult market, and at the end of the day,
we’re not businesswomen, we’re youth workers trying to run a business.”
This is where multi-sector collaboration is of huge benefit and our
youth zones have flourished thanks in part to the different skill sets that
come with diverse involvement. Each centre has a management board made up of
individuals from councils and businesses alongside highly experienced youth
work professionals. Each brings their own best practice approach in areas
such as youth work, marketing, operational management and finance.
Councils maintain a central role in this governance and delivery framework,
ensuring the service is always aligned to wider community strategies and
linking effectively with other public agencies.
We should be doing
more to create and nurture multi-sector collaboration and partnerships.
Ultimately, universal youth services need appropriate and resilient
approaches if they are to survive and thrive through future economic and
political cycles.
Mark Ward
19 August 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2016/aug/19/private-partnerships-youth-services-funding-crisis
