To the Youth Fund Newsletter December 2022 page

Newsletter December 2022 | 21 December 2022

Newsletter December 2022

It seems so obvious that all children and young people can participate in Sports & Culture, but not every parent can afford it. The need for the Almere Youth Sports & Culture Fund remains urgently needed. More than 2,000 children participate in Sports & Culture through the Almere Youth Sports & Culture Fund. Statistics from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) show that one in nine children and young people in Almere grow up in families with insufficient income. Without financial support from outside the family, they cannot fully participate in society and therefore have fewer opportunities for development. Unfortunately, this is a persistent problem. All the more reason to further improve and strengthen the fund. Chair Ingrid van Gelder: "We thought our goals for 2022 were ambitious, with 2,000 children, but due to inflation and rising gas prices, we have already far exceeded that." 

Application to approval procedure

If there's insufficient money at home, the Youth Fund will pay the membership fee or tuition. The application for a contribution is submitted by an intermediary. This could be a teacher, neighborhood sports coach, debt counselor, or neighborhood social team member.

The intermediary will submit an application in consultation with you. You will hear within three weeks whether the application has been approved. After approval, you can register your child at the sports club, dance school, or other organization where your child would like to take lessons. We will pay the membership fee or tuition directly to the sports club/instructor. You will not receive any money. A new application must be submitted each year.

Please note: We ask all our intermediaries to answer the Back Office questions! It often happens that applications are approved without the child reaching the provider.

Did you know you can also request items like school supplies or a birthday box? Go to togetherforallchildren.nl.

Youth Fund Sports & Culture Challenge: All children participate!

More than 5,000 children in Almere are growing up in poverty. These children are entitled to financial support from the Youth Fund. Yet, not all children or their parents actually apply for this support. This prompted the Youth Fund Sport & Culture Almere to sound the alarm and develop a challenge that makes the Youth Fund visible to all children and parents in Almere. The Youth Fund Sport & Culture Almere challenges all intermediaries professionally involved in the upbringing, guidance, or education of children (ages 2 to 17) to take part in the challenge: All children participate!

Every step towards reaching more children and young people counts. Each completed group of challenges is rewarded with a top performance badge. The organization or school in Almere will be officially recognized as a partner of the Almere Youth Fund for Sports & Culture. The badge can be displayed on the outside wall of the organization or school's location to show everyone that they are the right place to go for your funding requests. Successes will be celebrated with a festive ceremony on-site.

During the inspirational and exchange meeting on November 21st at the Topsportcentrum, the neighborhood sports coaches (Sciandri, Talent in opleiding, and De Schoor) and teachers from De Olijfboom primary school and Oostvaarders College Almere received their first top performance badges from Alderman Froukje de Jonge. These organizations and schools have registered more than six neighborhood sports coaches or teachers as intermediaries. Each intermediary has submitted one or more applications to the Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur Almere. The organization or school includes the Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur in its newsletter and other communications at least twice a year.

The Youth Fund for Sports & Culture Almere wants to ensure that every child has the opportunity to connect with Sports & Culture activities in our beautiful city and calls on contacts from schools or organizations such as the neighborhood team, healthcare institutions, neighborhood sports and culture coaches and all other professionals involved in the upbringing, guidance or education of the child to register as an intermediary. https://www.allekinderendoenmee.nl and get started with the challenge: All children participate!

Review of a successful meeting on November 21, 2022

A well-attended meeting at the Topsportcentrum ensured a palpable energy for supporting the youth fund. The performance by the young violinists and guitarists was a joy to witness. The hall was utterly silent.

The plenary program featuring our ambassador Remy Bonjasky, mother Madhuri, and son Vinayak Bikha was deeply moving. Alderman Froukje de Jonge and chair Ingrid van Gelder explained why we are all so important to the fund and the parents during this time.

The three workshops—How to reach more children, Application and treatment process, and Communication—have resulted in over 200 post-its containing recommendations and ideas that we will use to reach even more children in the coming year.

Call for volunteers

The Youth Fund for Sports and Culture Almere wants everyone to be able to participate, and that's why we give more than 2,000 children and young people from low-income families the opportunity to participate in sports and culture every year. Everyone in Almere should know about this.

We're looking for fun, enthusiastic volunteers who love participating in PR activities. Will you promote our youth fund at markets and gatherings? Are you comfortable getting a stack of mail ready for dispatch? Would you like flexible work hours, whenever it suits you? Just a few hours to spare? Apply now, and we'll get in touch!

What are you going to do?
– You are the ambassador of the Youth Fund Sports & Culture Almere
– Sometimes you have a stall at a meeting and hand out flyers
– Who knows, you might also want to take photos during a sports activity
– But you also enjoy sticking 100 stamps on envelopes with a group of volunteers.

Skills
Of course, we'll explain everything to you first. If you're enthusiastic about the Youth Fund Sport & Culture Almere, you're available on call. If you'd like more information, we'd love to hear from you at Yvonne.almere@jeugdfondssportecultuuralmere.nl. Anyone who would like to Anyone who wants to share their thoughts, contribute and spread the word about the Youth Fund within their network is welcome! We will definitely organize such an important meeting again next year

Thank you and see you next year!

Unfortunately, not every child has access to sports or cultural activities. Together, we can change that, even in 2023! Together, we can reach even more children. Everyone who has contributed to the Youth Fund Sports & Culture AlmereTHANK YOU! We wish you happy holidays! We're taking a break too. See you next year!