Care Home Friends and Neighbours: Intergenerational Linking

My Home Life England (MHL) is delighted to announce that it is partnering with The Dunhill Medical Trust and The Linking Network (TLN) in an exciting £1M project to promote young people’s engagement with care homes for older people, through MHL and TLN’s Care Home Friends and Neighbours: Intergenerational Linking Project. The project is being funded by The Dunhill Medical Trust and the #iwill Fund, a joint £40M investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

This three-year project aims to co-create, pilot and deliver a range of inter-generational, sustainable community engagement initiatives in the social care sector with the purpose of:

• developing a long-term volunteering habit amongst young people, in particular those aged 5-14 years from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, through the provision of high-quality opportunities and support
• connecting the residents of care homes for older people with their local communities in a way which is flexible, practically achievable and self-sustaining

The project intends to transform the lives of both young and older participants, initially in two pilot areas and then a further 10 areas throughout England.

Care Home Friends and Neighbours (Care Home FaNs) seeks to inspire, guide and make it easier for young individuals in primary schools, clubs, and community organisations to connect with residents, relatives and staff in care homes. MHL will help them to kick-start the habit of community volunteering and other forms of social action, early in life, developing skills for the future and supporting them to feel part of a national effort to connect generations for mutual benefit.

Please note that we will be piloting the project during the first 12 months and so funding is not currently being awarded. If you are looking for funding for a youth social action project, check if one of the other #iwill match funders are open and might be right for you. 

Notes

• The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £40 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action opportunities.
• The #iwill Fund brings together a group of organisations who all contribute funding to embed meaningful social action into the lives of young people.
• Social action involves activities such as campaigning, fundraising and volunteering, all of which enable young people to make a positive difference in their communities as well as develop their own skills and knowledge.
• The #iwill Fund supports the aims of the #iwill campaign – to make involvement in social action a part of life for young people, by recognising the benefit for both young people and their communities.
• By bringing together funders from across different sectors and by making sure that young people have a say in where the funding goes, the #iwill Fund is taking a collaborative approach.