What We Do

By now you could possibly wondering what Young Lives is all about! So we have created this page with some general information about who we are and what we do.

Who are we? 

Young Lives Consortium is a membership organisation of Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Groups working with children and young people aged 0-19 years across the Wakefield District. We represent a broad range of services which includes large national charities, play and youth associations, uniform and faith groups and a variety of other groups in the children's sector.

What do we do?

We represent and support the VCS sector across the Wakefield District. Our role is to ensure that our membership, and statutory sector partners, are able to access information on services, developments, funding and training opportunities across the children and young people's sector.

We expect to draw on expertise across sectors to identify priorities and find solutions to develop a strategic partnership for joint working.

We hope to bring all the children and young people groups together to create new Partnerships and build on the current ones ands ensure that every child in the Wakefield District achieves the five Every Child Matters outcomes. Help us to make the Wakefield District a better place for children and young people.

We will promote equality and diversity to ensure that all groups and young people are involved

We support voluntary and community sector groups to work within the Every Child Matters framework. All services for children and young people will enable them to:

• Be healthy
• Stay safe
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well-being

Why should my organisation join Young Lives?

It is free!

Our role is to ensure that VCS organisations, young people and our statutory partners are able to access information on services, developments, funding opportunities and training across the children and young people's sector.

Government planning for children and young people, applying for funding, finding out what is available, commissioning of services etc are all getting more and more and more complex. It is difficult to keep up to date with everything that is going on, the processes involved, and what is available for your organisation.

However, there are many opportunities out there, as well as threats to the future of some services. You can find out what is going on in the Wakefield District by using this website and signing up for our e-bulletin and magazine.

The website provides information about training opportunities, which are often free, information about funding and the opportunity to network with other organisations to share experience and examples of good practice. You will be able to search our data base for children and young people's groups and services to find out what is available in the areas your service users live.