Young Grant Makers See the Impact of their £50,000 Funding Decisions
This term, Young H&F Grant Makers visited St John XXIII Catholic Primary School to see a project they’d funded come to life.
At the beginning of the year, local young people decided how £50,000 in grants is invested in projects for children and young people in Hammersmith & Fulham through Young H&F’s Young Grant Makers programme. One of the projects they chose to fund is Lawyers4Learners, a social mobility charity that runs free public speaking workshops in disadvantaged schools. As well as making the funding decisions, the programme gives Young Grant Makers the chance to visit and experience some of the work they’ve backed first-hand.
This term our Young Grant Makers were invited to the final session of the Lawyers4Learners programme, where pupils are given a real court case, placed on either the prosecution or the defence side, and supported to build and present their arguments. Working in teams, the children break down the facts, decide what they think is fair, and practise speaking up respectfully and articulately in front of others. The session ends with a mock trial, where a panel of judges listens to each side and delivers a verdict.
This time, our Young Grant Makers joined that panel of judges. They were able to hear pupils’ arguments first-hand and took part in deciding the outcome of the mock trial.
Young Grant Makers visit the Lawyers 4 Learners Project
“It’s amazing to see a project you’ve funded in action. In person you can see the actual impact it has on the children.”
For pupils at St John XXIII, the programme offers a structured, supportive way to build skills that can be hard to practise in a busy classroom: speaking in front of others, listening to different viewpoints, thinking on their feet and backing up an opinion with reasons. One pupil told our Young Grant Makers, “I’ve not always been the most confident person in the classroom, but this has helped me be more confident and voice my opinions.”
The visit also showed why local funding models matter. Our Young Grant Makers live, study or work in Hammersmith & Fulham. They understand what life is like for young people in the borough and what kinds of support feel relevant. By involving them directly in decisions about where money goes - and then inviting them into classrooms, youth spaces and projects to see the results – we are helping to build a youth sector that is shaped with, not just for, young people.
For Young H&F, this is exactly the kind of loop we want to keep strengthening: young people make funding decisions; local organisations deliver high‑quality work; and together we check in on the impact, listen to what young people say and feed that learning back into future choices.