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12 May 2009

Generations Together: MBF welcomes the £5.5m intergenerational fund

MBF calls for mentoring and befriending programmes to contact their local authorities to discuss joint bids to help close the generation gap

Generations Together will fund 12 projects across the country where young and older people can engage with each other on equal terms, break down barriers and challenge negative stereotypes. The programme is designed to:
  • Generate wider interest in and thinking about intergenerational work
  • Increase the number of volunteers working on intergenerational activity by 20,000 by the end of the programme
  • Provide robust evidence of the effectiveness of intergenerational initiatives.
The programme brings together funding from the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office, announced by Liam Byrne in December 2008 and funding from the Department of Health, Department for Children Schools and Families and Department for Work and Pensions.

Steve Matthews, Chief Executive of MBF commented on the recent announcement:

“Mentoring and befriending are ideal activities which contribute to the intergenerational agenda. MBF supports over 3,000 projects nationally which potentially could partner local authorities to further the intergenerational agenda. I would like to encourage programmes to contact their local authority to discuss the potential for joint bids to bring generations together through mentoring and befriending”.

The programme is seeking bids from all English local authorities. Importantly these bids must involve third sector organisations and the bidding document makes clear that at least 50% of the funding must be deployed within the third sector.

The programme will run during 2009/10 and 2010/11 with a closing date for applications 10 June 2009

More information including a question and answer document can be found here

Read our interview with Beverley Hughes MP on the value of intergenerational work (Rapport magazine, Issue 10, Jan 2009)