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*The Small Grants Programme is now closed
No new applications will be accepted*
The Big Deal programme is all about encouraging children and young people aged 0 through to 25 to get involved in making decisions that affect them and their friends and others in youth groups, schools, families and communities across Northern Ireland.
The Big Deal is a £4 million initiative funded through the Big Lottery Fund under its Northern Ireland Young People’s Fund programme.
£3 million is invested in The Big Deal 0-10, 11-16 and 17-25 Strategic Programmes.
£1 million is available through the Small Grants Programme for individuals and groups of children and young people to apply to.
The Big Deal involves different agencies working with children and young people:
• Youthnet (lead partner and responsible for small grants programme)
• PlayBoard (0-10 delivery partner Play Quest programme)
• Northern Ireland Youth Forum (delivery partner) supported by the Education & Library Boards (11-16 and 17-25 Strategic Programmes)
• Youth Council for Northern Ireland (strategy and co-ordination partner.
The Big Deal Programme wins award for Problem Solving in Partnership with PSNI
The award was for the work of The Big Deal Programme with Cookstown Community Safety Team with the Choices project. The project came first in the of Problem Solving in Partnership, beating nominations from across Northern Ireland, in the Policing in the Community Awards.
Choices is a project funded through the Payback scheme which uses assets and money recovered from criminals to be used in projects that enchance communities. The aim of the project is to challenge the choices that young people make in their communities. Young people who take part in the project normally have come to the attention of the police because of low level anti social behaviour.
Together the PSNI and the Big Deal delivered a week long programme that worked towards building better relationships between young people and neighbourhood police as well as challenging their behaviour and attitudes to their community.
The young people got to experience life as a police officer by using police radios, speed cameras, learning crime scene investigation skills and attended training with the Public Order Training Team at Maydown. The young people also engaged in group work activities that gave them the oppportunity to think creatively about improvements which could be made in their communities.
As a result of the project, the communities involved experienced a reduction in anti social behaviour and the young people involved have not come to the attention of the police again.
The Big Deal and the PSNI have delivered two Choices projects to date and a further two are scheduled for July and October, with support from NIYF. For further information, contact Tim Stewart, The Big Deal Participation Worker in the area tim.stewart@niyf.org
