Our Mission
Our mission is “To Become the Pillar of the Communities We Serve”, and in order to achieve this, we work at both the individual and collective level.
It’s a tough time to be a young person right now. Poor mental health among teenagers and young adults is a growing issue, exacerbated by feelings of isolation and loneliness common to the pandemic. This can act as a serious barrier to motivation and opportunities amongst young people, and we make a point of addressing the mental health of our participants where appropriate, as well as giving them the tools to reduce stress, feel optimistic about the future, and build relationships with their peers.
A lot of the young people we work with are from vulnerable backgrounds, and many of them are not currently in employment, education or training. We recognise the problems faced by these disadvantaged and NEET cohorts; our staff are all trained in safeguarding and are happy to signpost or provide referrals to young people and their parents or guardians to other organisations and services that can offer them further support. In our experience, a lot of NEET young people also move out of the family home at a younger age than the average, or at least have the desire to. Much of our work centres around preparing young people for the transition to adulthood.
Inclusivity is at the heart of what we do. Our offers are fully accessible to all young people, and we will always implement reasonable adjustments to ensure maximum participation across our events and programmes. We take great care to promote gender, race, disability and sexual orientation equality, and make sure that all of our participants feel safe, cared for and valued while with us, and that their needs are catered for. Our staff are also trained in challenging behaviour, with a knowledge of neurodiverse conditions that allows them to be flexible and sensitive when dealing with individuals.
Although it’s fair to say our main focus in all of our programmes is on delivering positive outcomes to our participants, we see our work as having the capacity to also help the people and places involved in the actual running of the projects. Community venues were hit hard by Covid, and we try to make use of them wherever possible when looking for where to host our events and programmes. We believe that these locations serve a vital function in communities across the country, providing a place for people to come together, connect, and celebrate creativity and culture. Giving them regular bookings and income is essential in ensuring they are able to keep going.
In addition, we make a point of employing local artists in our work, many of whom are self-employed and have been severely impacted financially by the pandemic, or are working full-time jobs alongside their creative pursuits. We hope to help them grow their reputations in their respective local art scenes and open up new opportunities for them after a project’s completion.
By combining our focus on the individuality of young people with our ability to uplift the members and providers in their local areas, we hope to stimulate entire communities, both now and well into the future. We provide the pillars they can use for support, to build upon and reach new heights.