Catalyst and The National Lottery Community Fund COVID-19 Digital Response are supporting organisations actively tackling challenges across four sectors; early years; financial wellbeing; mental health and wellbeing; and sexual abuse and domestic violence. For this project, the focus of our partnership is on the early years, developing and testing different ways of supporting early years services to reach digitally excluded families.

This five-year project, with core funding from Impact on Urban Health to the  Old Kent Road Family Zone (OKRFZ), aims to strengthen governance arrangements and understanding of local needs to tackle drivers of inequalities and help children thrive. Our developmental evaluation on this aims to bolster learning and support equitable approaches to decision-making to affect change.

We have worked with Save the Children UK and partners to create an evidence-informed Toolkit to support local system change activities aimed at improving children’s early learning outcomes. This is underpinned by an evidence review and extensive co-design with local partners. 

We have been selected to support MEAP, a programme dedicated to effect system change so that children, young people and young adults are able to get timely and appropriate mental health support.

Dartington Service Design Lab are the lead partner in the #iwill Fund Impact Evaluation and Learning Contract.

The #iwill Fund is a collaboration between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), working with match funders to support young people to access high quality social action. Social action involves activities such as campaigning, fundraising, and volunteering, all of which enable young people to make a positive difference in their communities as well as develop their own skills and knowledge.

Dartington Service Design Lab, alongside the University of Bristol, has been working with two Locality Partnerships in the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care System (BNSSG ICS) to develop a theory of change and evaluation framework for their contribution to population health outcomes.

Connected Futures is a £16m programme that seeks to change the journey from education to employment for young people facing exclusion and disadvantage. It aims to support the development of local approaches to youth employment that put young people at the heart of the system, from schools and employers to housing, health and care. Blackpool is one of several areas funded by the Youth Futures Foundation to embark on systemic changes to reduce the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Chance UK is solution-focused mentoring and support charity which works with children and families to reduce the impact of trauma on their lives. The charity works to support children aged 8-14 experiencing behavioural and emotional difficulties in a needs-led and strengths-based way to develop skills which can protect them from risks in the future. Chance UK collaborates with others (e.g. education, health, social work) to support children in realising a brighter future. Chance UK work directly with young people with a 1-2-1 mentoring programme at the centre of its delivery model, with other curriculum and skills-based activities to support positive change. The charity also conducts direct work with parents and carers in developing their skills and knowledge to gain a holistic view of the young people they are working with, and to ensure their work is meaningful for families.

The ThinkForward: FutureMe programme works with young people to support their continuation in education, employment, and training and to prevent them from being identified as “Neet.” They use a blended approach of one-to-one and group coaching sessions delivered by trained coaches who support the young people to work through the seven work “work readiness capabilities” of being; self-aware, driven, resilient, self-assured, organised, and a good communicator. These qualities have been identified as being desirable by employers. The programme also offers business mentoring, CV writing and interview skills workshops, work experience placements, and parental engagement.

Grosvenor Hart Homes is a new social enterprise on a mission to improve the life chances of vulnerable children, young people, and their families.

Keys to the Future is a joint learning partnership between Barnardo’s and Dartington that seeks to embed the Rapid-cycle design and testing approach to the design, implementation, and refinement of homelessness provision and sustainability planning in North Lanarkshire for families

We are working in partnership with leading youth work charity UK Youth to support the youth work sector to develop their capacity, knowledge, and sustainability of their services in addressing young people’s mental health needs. Together we’re using learning and insight to guide the strategic development of the Thriving Minds Fund over a three and a half year period.