Launch Of Inverness Area Youth Bank

The Inverness Area Youth Bank is staging a launch with a stall and giveaways at the Eastgate Centre on Saturday 8th April from 11am – 4pm.

YouthBank is an innovative grant-making initiative run by young people for young people. Local YouthBanks provide small grants to fund young people’s good ideas to benefit their own communities.

Inverness YouthBank is run by members of YPOC (Young People’s Opinions Count), the Inverness Area Youth Forum, and has £13 000 to give away to young people over two years. The criteria are straightforward and set by young people. Applicants must be aged between 11 and 21,live within the Inverness Area and projects must benefit the local community in some way. There is no minimum amount, but grants will be no more than £500.

Young people themselves make decisions about who receives the money and how their YouthBank is run. They are able to demonstrate that they can take responsibility for spending real money and making decisions that affect their own lives and the community they live in. YouthBank is as much about supporting and training young people as it is about giving out grants, enabling them to reach their full potential.

Inverness YouthBank is working in partnership with Health & Happiness, and has an additional £4500 to give to young people with learning disabilities.

YouthBanks aim to improve the quality of life in communities by enabling the active involvement of young people as members of those communities – both as grant-makers setting priorities and making decisions, and as recipients of YouthBank grants to set up projects to benefit their community.

Comments from the young people involved include: "We’re in control of the money!"; "It changes our local area for the better"; "It gives young people the chance to change their communities"; "The money would go to waste if we didn’t distribute it".

For more information or for an application form, come along and chat to us at the Eastgate Centre on Saturday, write to: Inverness Area Youth Bank, YPOC, The Highland Council, North Tower, Inverness Castle, Castle Hill, Inverness IV2 3EG, telephone (01463) 229209, or email youth.forum@highland.gov.uk .