The Young Foundation - a centre for social innovation

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Venturing and Investment

The lead for this area of work is Simon Tucker.

We develop and support new ideas turning them into sustainable organisations. We manage three social venture funds: Health, Learning and Youth Leadership. Each has a portfolio of ventures underway which range across the public, non-profit and commercial sectors.

We help advise the NHS's Regional Innovation Funds, part of a broader programme of work advising public organisations on how to promote innovation more effectively, and are also engaged in a project to assist local authorities in developing their support for social enterprise.

Our work on health and ageing focuses primarily on innovative ways of meeting the needs of people with long-term conditions. Health Launchpad has supported a range of ventures which point the way to the health service of the future, including:

  • Living with Dementia - New tools for people with Dementia, their partners and families.
  • Neuroresponse - Helping people with Multiple Sclerosis manage their condition.
  • Healthy Incentives - Helping people lead healthy lives and manage long term conditions.
  • Start Again - Services tailored to meet the needs of young people with mental health problems.

The Young Foundation has several ventures addressing the challenges presented by young people's transition into an adult working life, these include:

  • Enabling Enterprise - Offering schools all the tools needed to run enterprise courses.
  • Fastlaners - Intensive employability programme for graduates seeking employment.
  • Space Unlimited - A consultancy where the consultants are teenagers.
  • Studio Schools - A new state school model for 14 to 19 year olds of all abilities.
  • Uprising - Opening pathways to leadership for talented young adults.
  • Workingrite - Apprenticeship mentoring programme to support teenagers.
  • Faking It - Challenging people to fake it in order to increase their confidence.
  • Enternships - Raising the aspirations of young people by giving them a taste of work.
  • Future First - A web-based alumni network for state schools.
  • VI-ability - Providing young people with their first supported steps into work.
  • Arrival Education - A talent development programme for young people from inner-city communities.

The Young Foundation's work on wellbeing and families emphasises 'subjective wellbeing', what people feel about the quality of their life. A key element of this is 'resilience', how people bounce back from adversity. Our current ventures in this area are:

  • Maslaha - Breaking down barriers and increasing understanding of Islam.
  • Saheli - Running activities for local women in Balsall Heath, Birmingham.
  • Action for Happiness - Inspiring a fundamental cultural change towards a happier society.

Work exploring the dynamics of community and how people live together has always been a priority for the Young Foundation, building on Michael Young's research work in East London. Current ventures include:

  • Spice - Credit systems that engage and empower the many rather than the few.
  • The U: a Citizens University - Providing citizens with the skills and confience they need to help others.

The Young Foundation has always been involved in work outside the UK. We recognise that the more we know about the best solutions globally, the better we will be able to achieve results. Our current International ventures are:

The Young Foundation has a strong track record of developing innovative web-based solutions to address some of society's most pressing issues and currently supports several projects that use the Web to meet social needs including:

Innovation is needed in the criminal justice system. The Young Foundation is working across a number of research, policy and practical dimensions to this end. Current ventures in this area include: