More about the Partnership
INTRODUCING – THE £1 MILLION BBC CHILDREN IN NEED X JD PARTNERSHIP
Supporting Youth Projects
Raising awareness of the challenges facing youth services
Creating pathways for young people across the UK and ROI
Youth clubs have been providing vital support for our young people generation after generation. However, across the UK, these services continue to face significant challenges – with 1,200 youth clubs closing since 2010 alone.
This cuts many young people off from the only places where they feel understood, supported and connected to their communities – along with the people they trust to listen to them.
Together, JD and BBC Children in Need are raising awareness of these challenges while shining a light on the incredible work taking place in youth clubs across the UK every day. We’ll do this by launching the Youth Club Dictionary campaign – an initiative that celebrates the unique language, culture and experiences that make these spaces so important.
Inspired by the voices of young people and youth workers, the campaign highlights what’s at stake if youth clubs and services continue to disappear, while recognising the vital role they continue to play.
As a whole, the BBC Children in Need x JD partnership:
- Enables support for youth projects
- Creates opportunities
- Helps young people develop skills and build confidence
- Offers guidance towards future career pathways
- Employs effective fundraising methods
Throughout, JD continues to invest in its people, programmes and expertise to help create meaningful opportunities by working with youth projects across the UK. Through this approach, young people can access experiences that support future ambitions, develop employability skills, explore career pathways and hear directly from people working across the business. These structured encounters with employers and employees help raise aspirations, broaden horizons and provide practical insight into the world of work, aligning with recognised careers education frameworks including the Gatsby Benchmarks, Equalex principles and the MBacc.
50 JD STORES. 50 YOUTH PROJECTS
Local connections. Lasting opportunities
Each participating youth project is linked with a nearby JD store, creating opportunities for colleagues to volunteer their time and share their knowledge, experience and career journeys with young people while strengthening relationships within the communities JD serves.
Reaching More Young People
The partnership between JD and BBC Children in Need is built on a shared commitment to helping young people realise their potential.
In 2025, BBC Children in Need attended JD UP, JD’s immersive careers event that gives more than 10,000 young people the opportunity to explore career opportunities across the business. From Retail and Technology to Marketing, Design, Finance and Logistics, JD UP helps young people discover pathways they may never have considered before, while supporting informed career decision-making through meaningful employer engagement, workplace insight and exposure to a wide range of progression routes.
That shared ambition to inspire and support the next generation is one of the reasons the partnership has grown beyond fundraising alone.
Alongside the above youth project initiatives, JD also supports the BBC Bitesize Careers Tour, taking conversations directly into state schools across the UK and ROI to provide pupils and students with careers insight, practical advice and real-life experiences beyond the classroom to support their ambitions.
Looking Ahead
This partnership is about more than fundraising.
It’s about championing youth clubs, celebrating the youth workers who make them possible and helping provide young people with access to the opportunities, support and experiences they need to thrive.
Through fundraising, volunteering, employability programmes and community partnerships, JD and BBC Children in Need are working together to support youth projects, raise awareness of the challenges facing youth services and create brighter futures for young people across the UK and ROI.
When a youth club closes, communities lose more than a building. They lose a space where young people can connect, feel supported and find their voice.