From a special needs Scout camp to Camden's Police Cadets, small Alpkit Foundation grants remove the cost and access barriers that keep young people out of the outdoors.
Scouting and cadet units open their doors to everyone, but getting through those doors isn't always straightforward. Cost, confidence, and a shortage of qualified young leaders all get in the way before anyone's even reached the hills. A handful of small grants have gone towards knocking those barriers down, one unit at a time.
Confidence built one gorge at a time
Cracken Explorer Scouts wanted to try gorge scrambling, an activity that pushes teamwork and safety zones in equal measure. A £320 Foundation grant funded 10 places, and the Hollowford Centre, who ran the activity, liked the project enough to add funding of their own, stretching it to 20 places and opening it up to explorers from across the High Peak. Scout leader Debbie Rushworth explains the thinking: "As leaders, we see this as an opportunity to develop confidence and resilience, stretch their comfort zones and expectations of themselves." The verdict afterwards was unambiguous: "the best thing we had ever done." Explorers who'd never met before ended up helping each other up waterfalls, a rare chance, Debbie notes, "to meet more widely, something that we will build on."
A camp built around what young people actually need
Agoonoree is a camp specifically for Scouts with special needs from Greater London, run by around 70 volunteers for 33 young people. When their usual funding fell through, a Foundation grant kept the week running, subsidising fees for both the Scouts and the volunteers who support them. Kara, who organises the camp, says it plainly: "The money contributed towards the running costs which meant we were able to subsidise the fees that young people and volunteers pay." Archery, climbing, art and day trips followed, activities the group wouldn't otherwise get to try because of the nature of their needs. It's not only the Scouts who benefit: parents and carers get a rare week of respite, and volunteers, some experiencing it for the first time, come away changed by it too.
Believing in themselves
The Volunteer Police Cadets is a uniformed youth organisation open to 10 to 19 year olds from across London's diverse communities, with no funding from the Metropolitan Police for outdoor activity. Camden's cadets lean heavily on the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to get young people into the outdoors, and a Foundation grant went towards subsidising the equipment costs. Steuart, from Camden Volunteer Police Cadets, describes what changes: "When they arrive at Cadets they have a very low opinion of themselves and very low self confidence. We have recently managed to get our first group through their Bronze award, and the difference that this has made to their confidence and self belief is remarkable."
Training the next generation of leaders
Behind the individual units sits a bigger barrier: a shortage of young people qualified to lead the activities in the first place. The Scout Association, the UK's biggest mixed youth organisation with over 450,000 young people taking part each year, runs a Youth in Adventure Fund that its core grant can't stretch to cover. Foundation support funds 18 to 25 year olds to gain the qualifications needed to lead kayaking, climbing and abseiling sessions for younger Scouts, and equips them to do so, alongside separate support for the Scouts of the World Award and Explorer Belt, expedition awards that take young people on voluntary work and adventures both in the UK and abroad.
None of these projects are about a single spectacular trip. They're about making sure cost, need, or a lack of trained leaders never decides who gets to take part. Find out how to apply.