by Dale Tomlinson Programme Manager

After its first full year of its existence, Hampshire Children's Fund has a total of 180 projects up and running across Hampshire.

The projects are incredibly diverse in size and type of activity, and cover a very wide range of activities.

Over 11.000 children in Hampshire have benefited from the projects, at a total cost of £2.4 m funded by a grant from the DfES.

The Programme will run until 2008, and we look forward to even more exciting innovative activities to help us build better futures for local children and families

The programme has a particular focus on children aged 5-13 yrs, > and we work with 'Surestart' and 'Connexions' to join up services to young people aged 0-19. We aim ultimately to provide an integrated set of services to ensure that all Hampshire's young people get the best possible start in life.

In the coming year, we will be launching a new scheme, the Youth Inclusion and Support Panel to take early action to ensure young people dont drift into offending or other risky behaviour.