Introduction

The Liverpool City Region is one of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazer (YGT) areas across the country. Established as part of the the UK Government’s Get Britain Working White Paper (published November 2024), the Trailblazers aim to test new and effective ways of supporting young people into employment, education, or training.

As part of our local Trailblazer, VOLA has been appointed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to manage a Community Grants programme, targeted at voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations across the city region.

Projects funded through this grants programme support young people aged 18-21 who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) to help them to overcome personal challenges and barriers, and support their onward progression to employment, education, or training.

Funding

£881,000 has been allocated to 35 VCFSE organisations across the city region to deliver projects between December 2025 and March 2026. Each project primarily targets a specific borough, or part of a borough.

Some organisations have a particular specialism or area of expertise, and so some projects target specific client groups and/or have a specific theme. Other projects are open to any eligible young person.

The attached spreadsheet provides a complete list of funded projects, including a summary of what they intend to deliver, where, who to, and how to get in touch to find out more.

Enquiries

To make referrals, or for enquiries about one of the funded projects, in the first instance, please contact the named person in the above spreadsheet.

If you need any further support, or for any other queries, please contact YGT@volamerseyside.org.uk.

Privacy and Data Protection

People who sign-up for support from any of the YGT-funded projects will be required to share certain personal data (information about themselves) as part of the enrollment process and and on completion of the support programme.

The organisation delivering the YGT funded project they sign-up to is contractually obliged to share certain personal data they collect about participants with us at VOLA, as grant programme manager. VOLA, is contractually obliged to share with this data with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, who, in turn, are contractually obliged to share it with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who fund the Trailblazer programme.

Our commitment to you

We are committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of all people participating in our services. In particular, we want you to know that VOLA is not in the business of selling or trading your personal data/ information with other companies/businesses or anyone else for marketing (or any other) purposes.  We will use it only for the genuine purpose of delivering our services to you.

All personal data/ information held by VOLA is kept safe and secure and handled appropriately in line with the law. Everyone looking at your record, whether on paper or computer, is obliged to keep the information confidential. This is true for everyone involved, from the organisations delivering the support through to the LCR Combined Authority and the DWP – and obviously, by us at VOLA.

You can see the LCR Combined Authority’s YGT Privacy Notice here.

You can see VOLA’s Privacy Notice here.