Hobby Support Program

Vantaa Hobby Support, run by the City of Vantaa, Finland, is a municipal model that helps families cover the costs of children’s leisure activities when financial circumstances would otherwise stand in the way. Vantaa designed the programme around a simple principle: a child’s access to hobbies should not depend on family income.

As one of Finland’s most multicultural cities, Vantaa has placed equal access to meaningful leisure at the heart of its child wellbeing strategy. Many children and young people are motivated to take part in hobbies but face financial barriers their families cannot easily overcome. By targeting those barriers directly, the city aims to ensure that every child can pursue a hobby chosen according to their own interests and needs.

Hobby Support is designed to complement Vantaa’s wider hobby ecosystem, which already includes free hobby opportunities offered through schools under the national Finnish hobby model. Families experiencing financial difficulties can apply for support to take part in activities outside this free provision, broadening the range of hobbies a child can realistically choose. Hobby participation is monitored as part of the city’s strategic wellbeing goals, with annual city-wide surveys of school-aged children capturing children’s own views on what helps – or prevents – them taking part.

A key lesson has emerged: financial support alone is not enough. Families also need clear information, accessible application processes and easy links to the hobby opportunities already on offer. Combining financial support with school-based free hobbies creates a stronger and more inclusive system, in which the different elements reinforce rather than duplicate each other.

The next step for Vantaa is to keep weaving these strands together so that financial support, free activities and participation pathways form a coherent whole. By listening to children, removing financial barriers and building out the wider ecosystem, Vantaa Hobby Support is helping ensure that every child and young person in the city can enjoy their right to leisure.

To learn more: https://www.vantaa.fi/en/hobby-support-children-and-youth