The Covid-19 outbreak exacerbated multiple challenges for young people looking to access further education, training and work. 

As a rapid response to the pandemic to support young people during these challenging times, the Youth Futures Foundation delivered a series of grants through the Inspiring Futures Fund in partnership with BBC Children in Need. Through the fund, £7m was awarded to 107 frontline charities and social enterprises to deliver positive activities that support children and young people on their journey towards employment. Funding was targeted at projects that work with young people who experience discrimination or disadvantages that create short or long-term barriers to employment, especially those whose journeys towards employment had been further hit by Covid-19.

Youth Futures and BBC Children in Need funded Cordis Bright to independently evaluate the Inspiring Futures programme. The evaluation, which launched in 2020, focused on the implementation of Inspiring Futures and how it responded to the needs, challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic; the differences made by Inspiring Futures; and learning for the future. The final evaluation outputs produced by the evaluation included:

• A final report: IF Evaluation FinalReport 250823
• A report focused on the impacts of Covid: IF Evaluation FinalReport ImpactsofCovid 250823
• Summary output for practitioners: IF Evaluation Summary output for practitioners 250823
• Summary output for children and young people: IF Evaluation Summary output for children and young people 250823
• Summary output for policymakers: IF Evaluation Summary output for policy makers 250823
• Deep dive case studies: IF Evaluation Deep dive case studies 250823

To read more about the programme, visit the YFF website.