I’d bring together a group of youth-friendly adults,  who are happy to work together as volunteer youth workers. I’d recommend that their starting point is asking the young people what they want, and involving them as leaders of their own action plan. All else follows from the young people’s desire and motivation, and their leading role on their own behalf will appeal to those charitable trusts who value youth empowerment. Funding via larger grants is going to be incredibly hard to find after the pressure on charities and trusts following the recent cuts, so I’d suggest a number of smaller grants, to get you started:  the National Youth Agency website suggests a few online resources to help you find funders:  http://www.nya.org.uk/?

Nick Beddow

CEO of CDX Community Development Exchange

I would focus on two key audiences namely local councillors and MPs and the local  community who benefit directly from the project as it currently operates. If you want to develop a successful campaign to retain the service it is critically dependent on the active support of local politicians. They need to understand the project and why it is important to the local community they represent. You may not reverse spending decisions immediately but without their active support the project risks being ignored in all future discussions. Focus on those who currently hold office but also make sure that potential candidates in future elections are well briefed and prepared to battle your corner.The local community is the best defender of your project and will also contain its strongest ambassadors and advocates. There will be a number of local residents who depend on the project and who have seen the difference it makes to the lives of young people. There will be individuals who have benefitted personally and their story needs to be heard. You may also find that this is the source of volunteer labour that can keep the project afloat if funding is withdrawn.Searching for grant assistance is a time consuming and often thankless task but there is plenty of information on the internet. Develop a clear and positive statement about the value and benefits of the project and then customise it depending on the criteria of the particular organisation making funds available. You could try securing the support of the local college or University. They may run courses in community work or youth work and be able to provide volunteers only too happy to assist in running the project or developing bids for funds.Above all be persistent and make sure that everyone can see the value you attach to the project.

Andrew Kilburn

Former Chief Executive of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council

This is a problem everywhere and will become even more so when funding cuts are introduced in the next financial year. Firstly I would investigate what is also running in the area and how the successful ones are coping in the current climate. Go and visit them, they could give you valuable advice and guidance.  A number of existing schemes are having to evolve or amalgamate with others to survive and many people are investigating new ways of obtaining funding opportunities. Affiliation to local sports teams may also assist as they are able to access funds that others can’t. Many helpful website can help, saw this one could help non-profit making organisations manage their fund raising activities www.blackbaud.co.uk

Paul Dunn

Ex Metropolitan Police ASB advisor and Community Safety Consultant

In my area there’s never been a youth service as such and there’s an unfortunate situation with the only community centre – it’s owned and run by a self-electing ‘trust’ and they don’t want kids in there. What has been done for the local youth has come from the efforts of the local residents association, and it’s done rather well. They got the kids together, asked them what they wanted and went about providing it for them. It began with ‘street-dance’ sessions at the local Labour Club. From there it developed and, without going through the specific details, the kids learned from the older residents how ‘to get things done’ for themselves. They got themselves constituted and then secured their own funding – it was £5,000 as I remember. We are a couple of years down the track now. A group of local girls have just come back from a residential weekend in the Lake District. What impressed me about it is that the local youth learned how the system works where they are concerned, lessons that will probably be useful for them and the local community in years to come.

Joe Taylor 

Administrator for NatCAN (National Community Activists Network)
http://nationalcan.ning.com/

My experience is that without leaders; community, political and professional, working to the same self evidently achievable goals set by the people in the area nothing is sustainable. When that is in place, the energy released is more powerful than any amount of money.

Phil Woolas

Former Minister of State and Communities Minister

With the recent cuts in funding to local authorities from central government, and the consequent impact on local services, this is a question which resonates with a lot of communities. The initial shock can leave people wondering what on earth to do and uncertain about how to respond. Once the shock has worn off, however, it is worth lobbying and campaigning.

Can you demonstrate the value of the service? I know that this sounds like a very hard-nosed question, but if you want to convince those who funded the service to change their minds, you need to give them what they want. Examples of the kind of thing I mean include: local crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) statistics showing that the provision of youth services reduced crime and ASB; the numbers of young people engaging in positive activities through the provision; feedback from young people themselves; feedback from schools and other agencies on the positive impact of the youth provision on other areas of young people’s lives.

Amanda L Bickerton
Trustee of the Broughton Trust, Salford
Research and Information Officer in the voluntary sector.

There is a clue in the question that indicates the service has been very valuable and provided positive support to young people in the locality. It would first be helpful to undertake an evaluation of the service, conducting interviews with partner agencies that have valued the service, such as the Police, and of the young people and their families who have benefited from the service. If the evaluation can include any hard evidence of impact, e.g. reduced anti-social behaviour in the area, then all the better. This evaluation should then form the basis for a business plan which seeks to contract the service on the basis of economic, e.g. youth leader training, and social, e.g. reduced ASB, outcomes. The service should be developed into a social enterprise or community interest company with charitable aims. The recent change to the charity regulation CC14 means that large charities can now invest their endowment funds in social outcomes in what is called “programme related investment”. So partnering with a leading national youth charity to support development of the business plan may be good move.

Dr Tom Flanagan is Executive Consultant at Socient Ltd a co-operative established to support the social enterprise, co-operative and charitable sector – tom@socient.co.uk