YIF7: Findings from a shared evaluation of open access youth provision

This is the seventh in a series of learning and insight papers, published as part of the learning project for the Youth Investment Fund (YIF).

YIF is one of the biggest investments in open access youth provision in recent years. As such, it provides a unique opportunity to gain insights into a field that, in terms of impact, is currently under-researched and poorly understood.

In this paper, we share the findings of our shared evaluation of the Youth Investment Fund. The aim of this evaluation was to:

• Understand which young people engaged with YIF-funded open access youth provision.
• Understand the types of activities experienced by young people and the ways in which young people engaged with these different activities.
• Understand the quality of youth provision funded by the YIF.
• Assess the impact of YIF-funded youth provision on young people’s outcomes.
• Understand which factors contribute to the impact of youth provision and in what ways.

Amongst other findings, this report details how open access youth provision can significantly improve the social and emotional learning skills of young people and how it plays an important role in supporting families. You can click here to read the ‘Executive summary’ of this report. You can also read our ‘Technical report’ by clicking here.