Within the field of education, the Trustees recognised that certain of the grants that they had made could more accurately be considered as falling within the general heading of young people’s wellbeing; they are increasingly aware that wellbeing is often a prerequisite for successful teaching and learning. Accordingly, Trustees recently created a new grant-making category, Wellbeing of Young People.
AKO Foundation support new in 2022
Babyzone was created to give families with very young children opportunities equivalent to those that young people have at their local OnSide Youth Zone (see below). Early years activities and classes are made available at Youth Zones during the school day, when the facilities would otherwise be unused.
AKO Foundation support since 2019
The Foundation and the Jamie Oliver Group together founded Bite Back 2030, with the goal of halving the rate of childhood obesity in the United Kingdom by 2030, while at the same time eliminating the gap in obesity rates between children from more and less affluent backgrounds. Bite Back aims to build a youth movement that will have sufficient authenticity and critical mass so that it can act as a credible advocate to government (national and local), schools, hospitals and other entities delivering food on a large scale to young people, and will make progress towards identifying the creative media through which to engage key audiences.
AKO Foundation support since 2018
Frontline recruits, trains and supports outstanding individuals to become social workers through a 2-year programme which gives an opportunity for high-potential graduates and career changers to make a difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in England.
AKO Foundation support new in 2022
The Institutt for Spiseforstyrrelser (Institute for Eating Disorders Foundation) undertakes a number of related activities: treatment, research, teaching and education. It offers psychotherapy treatment programmes tailored to people with eating disorders, and to the wishes and needs of their relatives.
AKO Foundation support since 2017
OnSide provides modern, world class, custom-built youth centres (‘Youth Zones’) for young people aged 8–19 (up to 25 for those with additional needs). Located in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, the Youth Zones offer a wide range of sport, art and enterprise activities, giving young people somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. An independent study found that anti-social behaviour drops by between 30% and 77% around a Youth Zone.