Wight Its UP2U : Take a look at what you need to do, and start taking control over the way money is spent on young people in Freshwater and Totland …Its UP2U!

UP2U is an Isle of Wight participatory budgeting pilot.  The Department for Communities and Local Government, is sponsoring this project as one of only four projects across England and Wales, looking at this sort of decision-making about money in rural areas.

• The UP2U Fund offers local people the chance to design and deliver some
  of the local services they want.
• This pilot is starting the Fund’s work, by offering £20,000 for children and
  young people in Freshwater and Totland, to fund as many local projects as
  possible.
• For this pilot, the projects must aim to improve the health and eating habits
  of the children and young people from the area – from 5 to 19 years old.
• There are some rules, because this is government money, but provided they
  keep within those rules, the projects could receive a share of the £20,000, to
  be spent in Freshwater and Totland in 2010.

An UP2U Awards Event is expected to take place sometime within the next few months, allowing the public to vote for what they see is the best delivery of the allocated funding. A draft Award notice can be viewed here:

The event is intending to be digitally interactive in that the votes are cast by those people present:

Each person will have a personal voting keypad, a bit like a mobile ‘phone. This will be used to make sure everyone there has a vote and can say which project they want to get money. Each project will be given a number – this is the number which people will enter into their voting keypads later in the day, to choose their favourite local project

How will it work?

• Local young people think up good ideas to make a difference to the eating
  habits and health of their friends and families. They can discuss their
  project ideas with local workers in their school, health centre or youth club.
• These project teams then get in touch with the local project worker, Mary, at
  marynorledge@googlemail.com. Mary will help these projects to think through
  their ideas, so that they can be worked up into funding bids. Mary will then put
  the projects in touch with the Rural Community Council (“the RCC”).
• The RCC will help the projects to develop bids which will compete for a share of
  the £20,000.
• The bids will be checked, by a scrutiny panel made up of local Councillors and
  local young people, to see that the projects have kept within the UP2U rules. If
  they have, they will be invited to attend the Awards Event.
• At the Awards Event, the project teams will be joined by around 100 local
  people, to vote on which projects should receive a share of the £20,000 and
  how much they should receive.
• It is that simple – local young people voting on how local young people should spend the money – UP2U!

What will it do?

• UP2U will give Islanders more control over the way that government money
  is spent in their local area
• The UP2U Fund will give young people in the Freshwater and Totland areas
  the chance to make a difference to their own health and lifestyles, and to
  help others in the future to make the same improvements. 

Good ideas, are required, to get a share of the money and the closing deadline 23rd December 2009 is fast approaching for more details visit:  www.eco-island.org.uk/up2u/

If you have any questions about this work, please contact the UP2U project manager, Astrid Davies, on 01983 823804 or at astrid.davies@iow.gov.uk