Up to £275,000 is being made available to organisations to deliver a range of services and activities for young people on the Isle of Wight.

The Isle of Wight Council has launched both its Short Breaks and Youth Offer grant programmes which provide funding for organisations to deliver youth opportunities and positive activities in a safe and social environment. Short Breaks grants provide specific funding to deliver activities for children and young people with disabilities and/or additional needs.

In total, £185,000 is being made available via the Youth Offer and up to £90,000 via Short Breaks. Applications for grants of up to £20,000 can be made via the council’s website where full details and application forms can be found.

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Activities provided via grants in the past have included:

Short Breaks – arts and crafts, cooking, drama, cricket, computer gaming, horse riding, skate boarding and tree climbing.

Youth Offer – youth clubs for local communities, group for LGBT young people, recycling cafe, pottery, arts, sports and radio.

The council is particularly seeking bids that will support, inspire and engage:

young people with disabilities and/or additional needs;

teenage parents;

ethnic groups;

travellers;

young carers

children in care;

care leavers;

young offenders;

young people in households with domestic abuse;

homeless young people;

young people who are sexually exploited, and

LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender).

Councillor Jonathan Bacon, leader of the Isle of Wight Council and Executive member for children’s services, said:

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“We are delighted to be making these grants available once again and look forward to receiving applications which offer wide ranging and innovative services and activities for young people on the Island. “The activities provided in the past thanks to these grants have had a very positive impact on young people’s lives and we have seen an increase in the number of young people engaging in youth services and activities across the Island. Providers are working together collaboratively to share ideas, training and resources and may in future bid for funding together, which will help these activities to continue into the future.”

For more information about the Short Breaks grants, go to: https://www.iwight.com/council/OtherServices/Activities-and-Providers/Short-Breaks-large-grants.

For more information about the Youth Offer grants, go to: https://www.iwight.com/Residents/Schools-and-Learning/Isle-of-Wight-YouthTube/Youth-Offer/New-Youth-Offer-grants.

The grants are subject to budget approval in February 2017.