We are pleased to be working with Youth Futures Foundation as their Strategic Partner on Evidence into Action, to support ethnically diverse civil society organisations tackling systemic youth unemployment with their organisational development to help them sustain and grow, so they can continue to carry out important work to address youth unemployment disparities for ethnic minority young people.
Jeremy Crook OBE, Chief Executive at Action for Race Equality
Evidence into Action
In 2025, Youth Futures Foundation (YFF) launched the Evidence into Action programme to improve job outcomes for marginalised young people aged 16–24 who are NEET or at risk, with a focus on Black, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.
As part of the initiative, Action for Race Equality (ARE) has been appointed as the strategic infrastructure partner, offering expert capacity-building support and guidance to the funded organisations, ensuring that race equity is embedded throughout the programme’s design and delivery.
Turning evidence into opportunity for underrepresented young people.
The Evidence into Action programme, funded by Youth Futures Foundation, supports eight England-based organisations to develop, deliver, and evaluate vocational and employability training for young people aged 16–24 who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET). It places particular emphasis on reaching those from Black, Mixed Black, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) communities.
Over the course of three years, the programme aims to contribute to lasting employment outcomes for young people by:
- Improving knowledge mobilisation – Transforming research into practical insights to equip the youth employment sector with evidence-based policies and practices.
- Supporting key stakeholders – Helping practitioners, employers, funders, and commissioners in understanding and implementing evidence-informed strategies for meaningful change.
ARE is delighted to be the Strategic Partner for the Evidence into Action (EiA) programme.
About the programme
The Evidence into Action programme will run for three years.
Who is it for?
The programme support is designed for young people aged 16–24 in England who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), with a focus on those from Black, Mixed Black, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) backgrounds.
By supporting eight organisations with grants of up to £75,000 per year, the programme helps develop and deliver tailored on-the-job and off-the-job training, while also evaluating what works to improve employment outcomes.
What will the programme feature?
- 1:1 organisational development consultancy to organisations working with Evidence into Action.
- ARE associates will cover: business plans, funding applications, governance, HR, updating policies, project management and delivery, leadership and coaching/mentoring.
- Peer learning and action learning sessions
- Themed workshops. For year 1 these will be on:
- Leadership training
- Resilience building and addressing burnout
- Improving Evaluation
- Successful bid-writing
- Strengthening communications
- Budgeting and Financing
How is ARE involved?
ARE is the strategic development partner for Evidence into Action.
Our role is to strengthen the youth employment ecosystem by developing grant holder’s organisational capacity, producing relevant resources and championing work across the sector. We offer bespoke individual and group support throughout the three years of funding.
ARE will also be responsible for sharing ‘what works’ to a wide range of relevant audiences and stakeholders including funders, commissioners and other frontline delivery organisations in the sector.
Outcomes
- Build long-lasting impactful programmes, that can be sustained beyond our initial investment
- Improve knowledge mobilisation across the youth employment sector
- Support stakeholders to adopt evidence-based solutions to youth employment
- Create a co-funding opportunity. We are open to working with other like-minded funders, who are interested in our approach, to increase the size and impact of this fund.
ARE Programme team
ARE Programme Director Indra Nauth
ARE Programme Manager Emma Stephen
ARE Programme Officer Tara Shah
Using evidence from Youth Futures Foundation’s Youth Employment Toolkit, they are working with partners to put these insights into practice.
current programme participants
PARTNERS
Funder – Youth Futures Foundation
Strategic Partner – Action for Race Equality
Learning Implementation Partner – Centre for Evidence and Implementation with The Edge Foundation
GRANT HOLDERS
IMO Charity – Blackburn, Lancaster
Rise Up – Greater Manchester
Making Education a Priority – Manchester
Miss Macaroon – Birmingham and Walsall
Punch Records – Birmingham
Sports Key CIC – Birmingham
Fully Focused Community Trust – London
Ultra Education – London
Find out more about the programme
Details about this programme can be found on the Youth Futures Foundation website.
For more information about the Evidence into Action programme or if you have any questions, contact the Youth Futures Foundation Grants team.