Minister Zappone announces funding to enable the formal opening of UBU - Your Place Your Space on 1 July 2020
The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, today announced that funding allocations have been approved for the youth funding scheme, UBU - Your Place Your Space, enabling the scheme to proceed as planned on 1 July.
UBU - Your Place Your Space provides funding to youth services that support young people to develop the personal and social skills required to improve their life chances. This includes services covering health and wellbeing, education, employment and social connectedness. The scheme will target young people aged between 10 – 24 years who are experiencing economic, social and cultural disadvantage.
Following a successful application process, letters of allocation issued today to all Education and Training Boards (ETBs) who administer funds to successful youth services on behalf of the Minister.
Acknowledging the deep commitment by the applicant organisations and Education and Training Boards to the process Minister Zappone said:
“I greatly appreciate the efforts, particularly in these difficult times, of the ETBs and youth organisations to ensure that we can open UBU - Your Place Your Space on time on 1 July. I thank the youth officers and ETB co-ordination committees who have worked so hard under the COVID-19 restrictions to keep the process on track. This represents the completion of a major reform of funding for targeted youth services and it was achieved in the midst of unprecedented restrictions due to COVID-19.
“The youth sector has responded heroically to the current crisis, adapting and innovating in order to maintain supports for vulnerable young people. The funding announced today, coupled with the youth sector guidance which I published on 2 June, ensures that such services can continue to deliver on this important work throughout the year ahead within the robust framework of the new UBU - Your Place Your Space scheme.”