Young People

We’ve worked with over 50 young people to award £900,000 in funding youth work in Camden since 2018. Through our Future Changemakers Fund and the Youth Futures Fund, we’ve given opportunities to hundreds of young people and are breaking down barriers with Camden’s institutions.

Background

The sole focus of Future Changemakers are young people; the panels are made up of 16-25 year olds, who have complete control over the fund criteria and application questions. The funds raised and distributed are awarded to initiatives and organisations dedicated to safeguarding and empowering Camden’s younger generations.

In February 2018 three young men were tragically stabbed in Camden, two of them fatally. Camden Giving’s response to this is the Future Changemakers programme.

Since it was first launched in 2019 the Future Changemakers panel has been an annual staple in our funds. The panel is made up for a group of passionate 16-25 year olds living in Camden

We firmly believe in putting power into the hands of those who understand the challenges best, so who better to decide youth service funding than Camden’s young people.

  • The inaugural Future Changemakers fund in 2019 saw 10 young people fund 9 projects including:

    • AYBI

    • Coram’s Field

    • Fitzrovia Youth in Action

    • hFoundation

    • Pro Touch SA CIC

    • SYDRC

    • Urban Community Projects & Somers Town

    • The Winch

    The £83,512.02 funded, benefitted 908 young people around the borough.

  • The second cohort of the Future Changemakers decided on a list of issues they identified as being the issues faced by young people in Camden.

    1. Drugs and Racism

    2. Hate Crimes

    3. Lack of Trusted Role Models and Adults

    4. Poverty/ Exclusion of Young Men/ Subsequent Affiliation with Drugs/ Knife Crime

    5. Polarisation of Education

    Year 2 saw £115,449 being awarded to 14 organisations:

    • Action Young Boxing Intervention

    • Coram’s Fields

    • Pro Touch SA CIC

    • Project 10:10

    • QCCA

    • Sir Hubert Von Herkomer Arts Foundation

    • Small Green Shoots

    • SYDRC

    • STORE CIC

    • hClub Creative Foundation

    • Sapphire Foundation

    • Unloc

    • YourBikeProject CIC

  • Year 3 saw £121,112 distributed to 13 organisations

    • Fitzrovia Youth in Action

    • Head Held High

    • STORE CIC

    • Eat Club

    • C4WS

    • Diginnova Foundation

    • Survivors Can Shine CIC

    • Sobriety Films UK CIC

    • Buri Academy

    • KCBNA

    • Skills Exchange Project CIC

    • St. Pancras Tenants and Residents Association

    • Music Studio Programme

    This cohort identified their key focuses to be:

    1. Youth services being severely underfunded and having low reserves

    2. A bigger fund would allow for more collaborative work between groups

    3. Future Changemakers can sustain the WMCK work

  • Year 3 saw £281,698.96 distributed to 16 organisations:

    • YBY Learning Ltd

    • Creators House

    • Local Village Network

    • Somali Youth Development Resource Centre

    • Urban Outdoors London

    • London Infinity Elite

    • Kings Cross Brunswick Neighbourhood Association

    • Coram’s Fields

    • Old Diorama Arts Centre

    • Small Green Shoots

    • Survivors Can Shine C.I.C

    • Action Youth Boxing Intervention C.I.C

    • Pro Touch SA

    • Camden United CIC

    • Fitzrovia Youth in Action

    • NW5 Project

    The novelty of this year’s fund was that it also included an additional ‘staff wellbeing’ grant which was available to any organisation is they so wished to spend on their staff to improve or cater to their wellbeing.

    This cohort welcomed proposals which centred safeguarding and empowerment of young people in Camden as their focus as well as the their key focuses to be around:

    1. Opportunities

    2. Mental Health

    3. Prevention of Racism and Violence

    4. Sports

    5. Police

  • On the 12th of September 2019, Camden Giving hosted a Future Changemakers debate, bringing together 70 people from all walks of life to celebrate the pilot fund programme and share their thoughts on improving youth safety in Camden.

  • Corams Fields

    Somali Youth Development Resource Centre

    St Mary’ Community Centre

    Kings Cross Brunswick Neighbourhood Association