Funding Concern about funding is common. Many organisations receive little or no funding and more have seen their funding decrease than increase over the previous three years. Funding for youth work as a whole is seen as inadequate and vulnerable to cuts. Short term funding, time spent fund raising, and strings attached to funding all cause concern, as does the proportion of funding and power held by a few large organisations in the borough. Volunteers and training Much of Newham's youth provision is delivered by volunteers who are oftenunqualified and receive little or no training.
Many providers consider their training needs to be inadequately met, often due to lack of funds.
Much of the work with Newham's young people happens in relative isolation with poor networking and information sharing between agencies. This research offers unprecedented access to information on the quantity, range and distribution of local services for young people. This information must be utilised by those who use, deliver, manage and fund services, to enable more effective use of existing provision and informed decisions about future services. It must also be added to - through regular maintenance of the database and effective evaluation of the impact of youth provision. Young people are currently high on the agenda.