Youth Leads UK calls out for votes to get a share of Tesco’s Stronger Starts fund

Youth Leads UK is bidding for a cash boost from the Tesco Stronger Starts scheme. Stronger Starts provides grant awards of up to £1,500 to local community projects, with a particular focus on children and young people.

Three groups in every community have been shortlisted to receive grant awards and Tesco customers can vote for the group they think should take away the top award in their local Tesco store.

Youth Leads UK is one of the groups on the shortlist in Salford. The stores where individuals can vote for Youth Leads UK are as follows:

• Irlam Extra – M44 6BL
• Partington Central Road Express – M31 4EL
• Walkden Extra – M28 3BT
• Liverpool Road Irlam Express – M44 6FY

Youth Leads UK will be running a Leadership Programme for local young people to enhance their employability and life skills through workshops, mentoring and skills training. They will also support them with a social action project so they can give back to their communities and gain leadership skills.

Farzana Begum, Vice-Chair of Youth Leads UK’s Youth Advisory Board said:

“The shortlisting is well deserved and a reflection of the impact of our leadership programmes and our young people’s passion and dedication to social change. This funding will support our young change-makers in implementing and enacting life-changing social action projects in our community. This funding is important because there are too many cuts to government funding and our generation is being ignored; so vote for Youth Leads UK and empower our young people, give our community hope and support the next generation of leaders”

Voting is open in the Tesco stores listed above, from April to the end of June 2025. Customers can cast their vote using a blue token given to them at the check-out each time they shop. Tesco’s Stronger Starts – previously known as Tesco Community Grants – has already provided over £117 million to more than 67,000 projects across Britain.

This £5m Stronger Starts grant programme, delivered in partnership with Groundwork UK, helps schools and children’s groups provide nutritious food and healthy activities that support young people’s physical health and mental wellbeing, such as breakfast clubs or snacks, and sports equipment for after-school clubs.

Claire de Silva, Tesco UK Head of Communities and Local Media said:

“Helping schools and children’s groups access the food and resources they need is vitally important in getting children a stronger start in life. Children with enough food have more energy, better concentration, and ultimately achieve more too.”

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive, said:

“As a community charity, we have seen first-hand how schools and other groups supporting young people have been playing a much bigger role in ensuring children are getting a healthy start to the day and getting access to spaces and services to support physical activity and mental health. Family budgets are tight and school budgets are tight, but it’s so important that children stay fed, fit and focused, so we’re delighted to be able to prioritise these activities alongside Tesco with the Stronger Starts programme.”

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities, particularly those helping to provide food and giving children the support they need for a good start in life.

Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit https://tescoplc.com/strongerstarts