The Agency is awarded £1.28 million by the National Lottery Community Fund

This funding will help more young people across the UK to lead programmes for social change. The Agency gives young people aged 15-25 the chance to develop projects that create a positive impact on their local area, empowering them to become the leaders and change-makers for their communities.

Over the next five years, this phenomenal and life-changing National Lottery Community Fund grant will continue supporting, young entrepreneurs in London and Manchester.

It will also allow The Agency to expand into other areas. An additional 580 new young people will be recruited from marginalised areas across England, with funding for 87 youth-led social change projects in these communities.

Since it started, 355 young people across the UK have gone through The Agency. 104 Agents have gone on to lead social change projects that have directly engaged over 19,000 people. The Agents have additionally raised £131,547 to develop their projects, significantly more than the £90,000 initial seed funding offered in total by The Agency. 46 of these projects are still running today, with many Agents leading COVID-response activity in their communities over the past year.

“The Agency has always been a vital project but in the wake of a pandemic that has laid bare the inequalities within our society it has become more urgent that ever before.  We are incredibly grateful to NLCF for the funding that will continue to support the work of The Agency not only in Manchester and London but its continued growth in communities across the country.”

— Suzie Henderson, Head of Creative Development at Contact