Young people in the Royal Borough will have access to £20,000 to plough into youth funding schemes.
This is the sixth year in a row that the Youth Voice Youth Choice scheme has been run, allowing individuals and youth groups to apply for a slice of the money.
Grants of up to £2,500 are available in four categories – schools, individuals, target groups and youth groups and the winners are decided by an online public vote.
Applicants must live or study in the Royal Borough and be aged between 8 and 19 years (or up to age 25 if they have learning disabilities).
The aim of Youth Voice Youth Choice is to get as many young people as possible to take an active part in their community.
Last year the scheme awarded funding to a number of projects, including the Reach group, which received £1,000 for equipment for young people with special educational needs or learning/physical difficulties; Family Action Young Carers Service, which received £1,385 to fund a trip to the living rain forest for twenty young people and three adults in the Easter holidays; and Furze Platte Senior School, which was awarded £1,500 for their Maidenhead Cycle Hub.
Cllr Natasha Airey, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “I encourage people from all around the Royal Borough to get involved in Youth Voice Youth Choice - either by putting forward ideas or voting for their favourite.
“It’s a great scheme which helps to make young people’s ideas a reality, as well as benefiting the wider community. ”
The Royal Borough’s Youth Ambassadors will score each application from set criteria, and the four highest scoring applications will be put forward for the online vote. Voting will be on the WAMSTER youth service website and the projects with the most votes will secure funding.
The scheme is split into two phases. Young people are invited to submit their ideas for phase one to: www.wamster.org.uk/Youth_Voice_Youth_Choice.htm by Sunday 5 thNovember 2017.
Winners of the first £10,000 will be announced on 28th November 2017. An Awards event will take place on 5th December.
The second phase of the scheme (for the second £10,000) will run between February and May 2018.