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Islington Youth

The problem

The idea

We propose building a model for preventative youth provision and informal education (‘Islington Youth’) that does not solely rely on public finance and to revolutionise the financing, specifying, securing, and delivery of these opportunities. A key aspect of our idea is to create a vehicle (‘Islington Youth Giving’) for strategic commissioning for IY. Independent of the Council, IYG will have the ability to trade and attract investment of all kinds. The shareholders will include the intended beneficiaries, in this case young people, who as share holders will have a full role in the whole commissioning process.

The Council, along with other shareholders, will transfer a range of assets such as buildings, equipment and finances into the vehicle and it will then be for the shareholders to determine how they are used to maximum effect. IY will create a fairer Islington by developing and extending a range of opportunities that affluent young people in the borough engage in as a matter of course to the 46% of young people in Islington that grow up in poverty. It will provide a modern and relevant offer of informal learning, recreational opportunities and preventative services that the shareholders can purchase. Profits from entrepreneurial activity generated by the shareholders will be directed back into IYG. Creating a business led model, in which young people have greater market influence drives quality, increases capacity for the market to develop in response to need and enables new providers such as social entrepreneurs to enter the market and generate new solutions which will be transformative.

This proposal is part of Islington’s strategy to manage the anticipated reduction in financial resources for public services and deliver a low cost, scalable solution to tackling worklessness. The cost saving and social impact would be relevant to authorities on a national scale.

What we need

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London Borough of Islington