An allocation of up to €2.6m has been made available to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for capital projects in the voluntary youth services in 2016/2017.
The news was revealed last Wednesday, May 4, by Mayor of Athlone, Tom Farrell. “This will be welcome news for the many youth organisations in Westmeath,” Mayor Farrell stated. “In the main, it will be used to support small scale projects, including equipment replacement, refurbishments, health and safety fit-outs, and accessibility projects in local youth services.”
Youth organisations, projects, and services in receipt of funding under the following schemes are eligible to apply: special projects for youth scheme; youth information centres scheme; young people’s facilities and services fund (rounds 1 and 2 ); local drugs task force projects scheme (21 mainstreamed projects ); and youth services grant scheme.
The scheme will provide grants under two strands: type 1 provides €5,000 to €20,000 for the upgrade or replacement of equipment or for the purchase of essential equipment to support the running of the project/organisation in the provision of quality services for young people; type 2 provides €20,000 to €50,000 for health and safety improvements to premises and/or the upgrade or refurbishment of premises, or upgrades to enable access for young people with disabilities.
Applications from local youth services and organisations in Westmeath should be submitted to their local ETB/youth officer/liaison officer. In the case of national youth organisations, applications should be submitted directly to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.
