Deadline: 17 May 2019
Applications are now open for the Children and Youth Mental Health Fund which has been created by Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) in partnership with the Department of Rural and Community Development.
Through the Children and Youth Mental Health Fund, SIFI aims to provide meaningful, lasting support to innovative mental health programmes and initiatives that reach out to children and young people before and during the societal, academic, physical, and emotional pressures of early adolescence and early adulthood.
The objective of the Children and Youth Mental Health Fund is to provide meaningful, lasting support to innovative mental health programmes and initiatives that reach out to children and young people before and during the societal, academic, physical, and emotional pressures of early adolescence, adolescence and early adulthood. The fund is open to all innovative projects offering either preventive supports or interventions for children and young people and their mental health.
The Fund Offers:
- 50% uplift on funds raised by applicants (applicants must provide evidence to verify that private funding has been secured)
- Peer to peer networking and knowledge sharing
- Training workshops
- Impact measurement
- A platform for awardees to showcase their work at an awards event
Funding Information
Successful applicants are asked to provide evidence to verify the private funding they have secured. SIFI requires a minimum of €20,000 private funding per year with a Donor Letter of Commitment over a minimum period of 2 years.
Eligible Projects
- Applicants should be able to demonstrate how they improve the capacity of those up to age 25 to cope with mental health challenges and difficulties. These projects may be preventative initiatives, group or one to one interventions or tailored projects that reflect the specific requirements/needs of their target group(s).
- All applicants should have a strong evidence base for their project and have an evaluation or assessment component (at least commenced).
- Applicants should also be able to demonstrate that they have raised private or philanthropic funding for the proposed period, and that the programme cannot be carried out without the match funding of SIFI.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must have not-for-profit legal status to be considered for the Children and Youth Mental Health Fund. For example: charity, company limited by guarantee, trust etc…
- Projects applying to the Children and Youth Mental Health Fund must meet the standard SIFI and Children and Youth Mental Health Fund core criteria listed below:
- Social Innovation Fund Ireland Standard Criteria
- The project must address a critical social issue – in this case mental health for children and young people
- The project proposed must be innovative in an Irish context
- The project must have potential and a desire to scale or replicate in Ireland (it may also have potential internationally, but this is not a requirement)
- The project must provide evidence that it is up and running, or has been tested at least in a minimal way
- The project must be based on the island of Ireland and make its main impact in the Republic of Ireland
- Applicants must come from an entity that has a not-for-profit legal form e.g. school, charity, social enterprise, voluntary organisation or Higher Education Institution
- Children and Youth Mental Health Fund Core Criteria
- The project must focus on children (in primary school), young adolescents, adolescents and young people up to the age of 25.
- The project must use the most up to date evidence-based approaches such as best practices from internationally accredited programmes
- The project must have a research or evaluation component, for example it must have built in an assessment or evaluation of impact from the start (including the use of direct feedback from young people)
- The project must have secured a minimum of €20,000 per year for 2 years in private pledged donations.
- Children and Youth Mental Health Fund Advantageous Criteria
- Projects that work on awareness, prevention and skills training such as empathy, compassion, resilience (coping with failure and disappointment), sense of belonging, etc
- Projects that use “practice rather than preach” and 21st century teaching models, such as youth led workshops, civic engagement models and other active experiential learning methods
- Projects that promote the development and implementation of appropriate professional mental health training for educators as a means of increasing capacity and confidence to identify and support young people with mental health issues
- Projects targeting children, young people and groups at high risk of mental health issues e.g LGBTQ young people, early school leavers, Traveller children and young people, etc.)
- Projects that demonstrate partnerships with other existing organisations (national or international)
- Projects that employ a holistic approach – school-wide approach, community and/or parental involvement
- Social Innovation Fund Ireland Standard Criteria
How to Apply
The Children and Youth Mental Health Fund’s application form is available on the given website.
For more information, please visit http://www.socialinnovation.ie/children-youth-mental-health/