News

 

That got your attention!  It’s not quite true, however, the truth is just as fabulous.  We were contacted last week by a local artist and Marketing Coordinator from Us2UConsulting, Kerwin Blackburn, who offered to paint some art for The Training Flat (in brand colours naturally!).  When he said that it would be inspired by Jackson Pollock, we had to jump at the opportunity.  Kerwin identified a large space on the generous staircase and is now busy creating our masterpiece.  We hope to hang it at the start of September and all those at the launch on 27th September will get to see it.  I can’t wait.

We’ve been informed by Norwich City Council that we’re being ‘signed up’ this Friday.  We’ve been planning this moment for a long time and it’s a fantastic milestone in our development.  It’s the moment that a small social enterprise gets its first premises.  And it’s not just any premises.  It’s a uniquely innovative Tenancy Training Flat in which we’ll be changing lives forever.  Before our Autumn Programme gets underway in September, we’ve got to kit it out.  On Friday I will get the keys to an empty two-bedroom shell.  Next week will be a flurry of activity of press visits, donor visits and decorating.  If you’ve yet to make a donation and would like to, we’d love to hear from you.  Even a small donation will make a difference, for example a pack of tea bags, bin bags, loo roll or light bulbs.  We want to stock up for future delivery.  We’ll be receiving visitors on 11th August in the afternoon, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th August.  We’d love to see you especially if you can lend a hand with any painting!  Tea, coffee and refreshments will be non-stop!

SAVE THE DATE:  Official launch 29th September.

As part of our mission to reach more young people and increase our social impact, we’re working with more partners than ever.  We’re told all the time that this is the best way forward, particularly when times are tough, as now.  However, as a small organisation it’s time-consuming and we have to be honest that it doesn’t always work out.  However, I’m confident that our new partnership with Stacy Bradley from The Smile Organisation will.  You may recall that Stacy worked tirelessly for us last year, supporting young people into work opportunities – with some outstanding results.  This week Stacy will be undertaking 1-2-1 Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS) training for Your Own Place.  She’ll be out and about, meeting young people face-to-face to understand their tenancy needs and anxieties.  Over five sessions she’ll answer their questions, help them to find their own answers and allay those anxieties resulting in better and more confident tenants in our communities.  With The Training Flat up and running, Stacy will be able to use this bespoke space to bring those words of wisdom alive and reach even more young people.

Looking for work is more of an art than a science.  We can all spend a lot of time doing it, as long as we know what we’re doing!  For many of the young people we work with it’s harder than it sounds.  The barriers our young people face are well rehearsed and present us with the never-ending challenge of finding ways to help them overcome them.  With youth being the biggest risk factor to becoming homeless and unpaid rent the main reason for eviction, it seems natural to us that we would want to support young people into work as a way of delivering on our mission of preventing youth homelessness. Helping them to find, secure and keep work is massively important for their sense of self-worth and place in the world.  It is for all of us and I’ve yet to meet a young person who aspires to a life on benefits.  So naturally we’re delighted that Children in Need have just funded us to focus on helping 16-18 year olds find work over the next three years.  We’re particularly interested in organisations from all sectors that can work with us to offer high quality work experience as well as innovative ways of supporting the emotional health of our young people.

The observant amongst you will have noticed that our blogs and news usually appear on a Saturday morning.  However, we’re aiming for weekday posts from now on.  I hope you continue to enjoy them.  Many will be aware that our mission is to ensure young people have a safe and secure home.  We do this by providing the skills, confidence and knowledge to young people who may be setting up home earlier than the average and without lots of support round them.  Part of this mission has always been to make it as real, fun and engaging as possible.  This dream came a step closer this week.  We’re working with a partner (to be announced soon we hope) to secure a flat where we will deliver this training.  Not only will this give young people a flavour of where they may end up living, it will also be bespoke to our courses and fantastically welcoming.  Perhaps most importantly however, is the way it will bring our courses alive.  Not only will young people be able to cook a meal and paint a room, but they’ll be able to meet the neighbours, read the electricity meter as well as learn what electrical appliances really cost to run and meet the landlord too!  We’re incredibly excited about this innovation and development in what we do and how we do it.  We’ll be coming back to you very soon to ask for help.  Just like our young people, we’re going to need to furnish it on a budget! #safeandsecurehome