Youth matters: what Big Local taught us about supporting young people

Supporting young people to thrive takes more than good intentions — it takes funding, trusted adults and spaces where they feel they belong. In this blog, Local Trust’s senior researcher, Laura Fisher, and senior public affairs and communications officer, Cameron Pannell-Rae reflect on how Big Local partnerships addressed the challenge of declining youth services, and explore what this means in light of the government’s Youth Matters strategy.

Meaningful activities, positive social connections and strong health and wellbeing.

This is what the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)’s new youth strategy, Youth Matters, says children and young people need to thrive. Our learning from over a decade of the Big Local programme agrees with this. Across the 150 Big Local areas, we consistently saw communities keen to support younger residents using the £1m of Big Local funding.

78 per cent of Big Local areas dedicated funding to projects supporting young people, ranging from skate parks and youth clubs, to Halloween parties and trips to the seaside.

But what we’re really interested in is how Big Local partnerships invested their money to tackle the ongoing systemic challenge of cuts to youth sector funding. Between 2011 to 2021, local authority expenditure on youth services fell by 74 per cent. This prompted many Big Local partnerships to focus on providing the fundamentals of youth provision – trusted adults and welcoming spaces.

One in five young people don’t have a trusted adult outside of the home that they can rely on.”

The value of trusted adults

DCMS’s Youth Matters strategy highlights the value of trusted adults that empower young people and nurture their confidence and resilience. Their research found that one in five young people don’t have a trusted adult outside of the home that they can rely on.

The strategy also speaks about the importance of pathways to develop a paid and volunteer youth sector workforce. At the start of the Big Local programme, many Big Local areas found themselves without the foundations needed to provide essential activities and services for young residents.

Boosting the youth workforce

In Ramsey Big Local in Cambridgeshire, the closure of the local youth club left residents feeling concerned about the lack of provision for children over the school summer holidays. Their response was to approach the Big Local partnership for funding to start their own pilot project for 5 to 11-year-olds – BOSH!. The success of this summer project also led to the development of a parallel group for teens – Crunch. To deliver these projects, Big Local funding was invested in paid youth workers.

However, a steady stream of volunteers, including teens attending Crunch who wanted to support activities at BOSH!, prompted Ramsey Big Local to fund formal training and qualifications in youth work for those interested. This provided a much-needed boost to the youth sector workforce in a rural community.

A group of children and adults pose together at the Ramsey Million Create Fest in 2023. Photo credit: Adrian James/Local Trust.

For St Matthews Big Local in inner-city Leicester, sport was their hook for engaging young people. They developed a volunteer to employment pathway that enabled 11 to 16-year-olds to get involved in their community, take on qualifications and find employment opportunities across the city. Not only did volunteer sports coaches support the delivery of activities for younger kids, the pathway nurtured local talent and provided young people with a tangible route to employment or further education – including in the youth sector.

Providing welcoming spaces

Youth Matters also draws attention to the importance of welcoming spaces for young people. The type of venue can vary, but it’s crucial that they are seen as accessible by young people – a place where they can be themselves, make new friends and have fun.

As shown by OCSI’s Community Needs Index, which measures community and social infrastructure, rural areas like Ramsey often face significant challenges around physical connectedness due to a lack of public transport. Travelling outside of the town to attend activities was not an option for many young people. BOSH! and Crunch therefore filled a key gap simply by providing local opportunities for young people to come together and enjoy themselves. Keeping things low-cost was another important way that Ramsey Big Local ensured their youth provision was accessible and welcoming to all.

Ramsey Neighbourhood Trust will continue the legacy of Ramsey Big Local in the area, including by running BOSH! and Crunch. This involves carrying on with a range of activities, such as the recent trip to a trampoline park and a silent disco.

Ramsey Cricket Pavilion at Ramsey Million Big Local. Photo credit: Jessie Powell/Local Trust

Meanwhile, community consultation in St Matthews found that local parents were concerned about a lack of safe and welcoming spaces for young people in their neighbourhood.

In response to this concern, St Matthews Big Local led the transformation of a previously disused space into a community multi-use games area (MUGA). Working with a range of partners, including Leicester City Council, Leicester City in the Community, Football Foundation and The Johan Cruyff Foundation, the MUGA became a vital local space for all residents, but particularly young people.

Importantly, the facility was kept open-access – free for young people to use when they wanted, built entirely on trust. St Matthews Big Local found that this approach fostered respect and responsibility towards the space.

Alongside general open access, the MUGA also hosted structured sports sessions. By accommodating the demand for both freedom and structure, the space was a visual reminder that young people’s voices were being listened to in the area.

The Multi-Use Games Area in St Matthews Big Local. Photo credit: St Matthews Big Local

DCMS’s youth strategy acknowledges that while the venues themselves may vary, providing a welcoming space for young people demonstrates that they are valued in their community.

Learn more about supporting young people

In this piece, we’ve highlighted two Big Local areas that prioritised young people in the community through their funding decisions. Youth Matters lays out DCMS’s long-term vision for providing all young people with a safe place to go and someone who cares for them. We know from the Big Local programme that these two puzzle pieces join together to help young people feel a part of their wider community.

Learning from Big Local explores a wealth of examples showing how young people were supported, empowered and valued across 150 communities in England. Take a look at our articles on this topic – you can read more about what kind of projects were funded as well as how young people were involved in volunteering and decision-making opportunities in their local areas.

Find out more about how Big Local partnerships invested in young people on our new website Learning from Big Local.