The CashBack for Communities Youth Work Fund supported local, targeted youth work opportunities for young people and communities most affected by crime since 2008.

In that time, over £14m has gone out in small grants to support hundreds of community-based youth groups, from Shetland to Stranraer, to deliver opportunities to 427,700 young people

What has been truly unique about the CashBack for Communities Youth Work Fund is that decision on how the funds were allocated were made by local assessment panels in every local authority area of Scotland. These assessment panels brought together over 200 local volunteer assessors each year and included young people, representatives from local authority and voluntary sector youth youth work service providers and community safety partnerships. This process ensured that the funds were focused on providing quality youth work opportunities to support the young people and communities at times and places where those intervention were needed most.

We’d like to thank of all the volunteer assessors who have supported the fund over the years.

In 2021/22 alone, projects supported through the fund engaged with 13,995 young people. The programme evaluation demonstrated that the CashBack for Communities Youth Work Fund outperformed against all of the CashBack outcomes. Critically, 8,773 of those young people reported improvements to their mental health and wellbeing as a result of the support they received. 5,268 reported being less likely to be involved in criminal behavior and 3,982 young people were supported to contribute positively to their communities through volunteering etc.

We’d like to thank all of the local youth work organisations and young people who helped to make this fund such a success.