Youth and Philanthropy Initiative

Year 10 students engaged in a ten week competition to be awarded £3,000 from the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) to go to their chosen charity.  The YPI is an organisation which engages young people in giving back to their communities and empowers students to participate in social change.

Students worked in teams to select and research their chosen charities and then create presentations to pitch for the winning grant.  The eight winning teams won through to a grand final at which they delivered their presentation in to all their 150 peers in their year group along with a panel of judges consisting of the Mayor of Rossendale Councillor Amanda Robertson, a representative of the YPI along with representatives from the governing body.

After a hotly-fought contest with a number of emotional presentations as students have come to understand more about their chosen charities and appreciate to a greater degree the work they undertake, a tough decision had to be made.  Judges chose the winning team of Georgina Chick, Lucy Clay, Laura Dunleavy and Sarah Taylor who represented the charity WHAG (Women's Housing Action Group).

WHAG aims to support men and women suffering from domestic abuse. It was established in 1981 in Rochdale with the aim to help people aged 16-65 who were homeless or unable to return home as a result of domestic abuse.  Since then the charity has expanded to incorporate Bury and is truly a local charity helping local people with the mission statement of "empowerment through support".

Managing Director of WHAG Kirsty Rhodes was thrilled with the £3,000 donation and said that she hopes that initiatives such as these raise the public and media profile of grassroots charities.  She encouraged students to continue volunteering and fundraising for the many worthy charities represented during the course of the competition.