To the Youth Fund Newsletter January 2024 page

Newsletter January 2024 | 25 January 2024

Newsletter January 2024

New Year, new back office and new phone number!
We're ringing in 2024 with a new back office! Mieke Eichelsheim and Bianca van Eijden are our new back office staff and the first point of contact for requests and invoicing in Almere. We warmly welcome Mieke and Bianca and are incredibly proud of this step! They have focused on our company. website and LinkedIn introduced. Please note, our back office telephone number has changed to: 036-7601565. The old number is no longer in use (06-20074161). The back office can be reached by telephone on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday between 9:00 AM and 12:30 PM. The email address for our back office has remained the same: almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions! For other questions, please contact the coordinators Yvonne Wolff or Lindy Heijmering via coordinator.almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl.

Number of approved applications 2023
In 2023, we approved a total of 2,275 applications. This is a fantastic result, considering we received 2,133 applications in 2022! We aim to approve 2,400 applications in 2024. This is because we know that approximately 9,000 children in Almere live in poverty. Will you help us reach parents and children by promoting the Youth Fund for Sports & Culture at school and in your network? You can do this, for example, through the Social Schools app and by discussing the fund at parent-teacher meetings. We also ask sports and cultural clubs to promote the fund by, for example, mentioning us on their website, including the topic in their policy, and raising it at member meetings.

Victims of the child benefit scandal
Attention to the intermediary: We need more information for an application from affected parents. When submitting an application, you must make a note if it concerns parents affected by the childcare allowance affair. Of course, these parents must also our rules meet their income requirements. You can include this note in the "information" section of the application. This will give us more insight into which families need assistance from the Youth Fund for Sports & Culture. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Email invoices to feiten.almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl
Attention providers: We would like to ask all sports and cultural providers to email their invoices to invoices.almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl instead of to almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl. Thanks in advance!

What if the maximum compensation from the Youth Fund is not high enough?
• It is possible to request a remaining amount from the Children's Aid Fund/Leergeld Foundation/Special Needs Fund Almere.
• If you have musical or sporting talent, you can contact the Almere Special Needs Fund or the Yvonne van Gennip Talent Fund.

Rules 2024 – new net salary table for parents
On our website The latest version of the rules for the Almere Youth Fund for Sports & Culture always appears. We've added a new income table to the document, which will be effective from January 1, 2024. Hopefully, this table will provide even clearer guidance on the maximum amount parents can earn to qualify for the Youth Fund. NB: We also reimburse the contributions of children whose parents have a current debt settlement program with PLAN-groep or Maatwerk OSS van de Schoor. We also reimburse children whose parents have a combined income above €120% of the social minimum, but who (temporarily) have insufficient financing options in 2023 due to inflation and/or high energy costs. Please clearly indicate in the application why the parents are entitled to an application!

Importance of trial lessons
We'd like to remind all intermediaries of the importance of children first taking a trial lesson with a sports or cultural provider. It's not possible to change sports or cultural providers once the application has been approved. If a child hasn't taken a trial lesson and then registers for a year with a provider, there's a chance they'll drop out early, even though we've already paid for the annual membership fee. This isn't good for the child's experience, and it also adds work for the intermediary and the Youth Fund. Therefore, please inquire via the website. https://sportencultuur.almere.nl Offer a trial lesson to the providers. As intermediaries, would you please include trial lessons as part of the application process? Thank you!

Did you know that there is a Toolkit for your website?
In partnership with the Youth Fund for Sports & Culture Almere, we expect the Youth Fund to have a visible presence at your location, website, and/or in newsletters. A toolkit is available for this purpose, which you can find on our website: https://jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl/voor-wie/toolkit/Help us promote the Almere Youth Fund for Sports & Culture!

Has your email address changed?
Send an email to almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl to have your old email address converted. TIP is to 1 email address to request per organization instead of a personal email address. For example youthfundsportculture@ambulantehulpverlening.nl or youthfundsportsculture@demeergronden.nl. This change of email address allows every intermediary to apply in case of illness, vacation or departure.

More information
From now on, we ask that emails intended for coordinators Yvonne Wolff and Lindy Heijmering be sent to: coordinator.almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl

For additional information about an application and invoicing, please contact the Backoffice. This can be reached via almere@jeugdfondssportencultuur.nl or 036-7601565 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9.00 am to 12.30 pm.