Changing Futures is a joint initiative by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and The National Lottery Community Fund. The fund is for local organisations to work in partnership to better support people who experience multiple disadvantage: those who are experiencing three or more of homelessness, substance misuse, mental health issues, domestic abuse and contact with the criminal justice system.
The programme is particularly focused on people who are not engaged with existing support services or who have struggled to engage historically. Sheffield is one of fifteen areas nationally selected to deliver a programme between July 2021 and March 2025.
Our programme in Sheffield is ambitious and multi-faceted. We have invested in a mixture of new frontline, operational capacity and new strategic infrastructure to help drive system change across the city.
Changing Futures is a learning programme which means we set out to do things differently whilst continuously evaluating, reflecting and reviewing our delivery and the impact it is having. This approach is allowing us to share best practice, identify remaining gaps in delivery, and highlight areas for improvement system-wide.
The programme is focused on establishing and evidencing positive, sustainable change that has an impact at an individual, service and system level.
In Sheffield the cornerstone of our programme is coproduction: people with personal experience of multiple disadvantage having an equal role in designing, delivering and evaluating services.
Our Positive Activities fund is our flagship, focusing on the importance of social connection and personal value in making a sustainable recovery from multiple disadvantage. We are investing in opportunities that will provide a fulfilling, meaningful use of time for people at all stages of their journey.