January 18, 2017
|By aissagallie
|
The North Yorkshire Young People’s Pathway service is one of the largest services that Foundation deliver. With teams across the whole of the county working with young people, it’s fair to say that Foundation are leading the way in developing services that offer young people sincere and effective opportunities to engage in meaningful and life changing activities.
One particular success, originating from our Harrogate Team is the Progress Group, hosted at St George’s Community Centre. The Progress Group invites young people, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to take part in a broad range of services, support and activities, including;
numeracy/literacy and IT skills, volunteering, housing and benefits, job club, CV writing, employment advice, debt management, access to online learning, tips on eating well and shopping on a budget, education and training, craft & beauty, cooking demonstrations, free wi-fi, activities/quizzes.
The group has high attendance rates and the staff team are building solid relationships with their customers, helping them to make significant changes in their lives and helping them towards a sustainably, independent future.
The real success of the group comes down to the Foundation team and their passion for empowering their customers and giving them a voice.
So, let’s hear it from the Progress Customers…
Shaun
is a customer who attends our Foundation Progress Group as a Volunteer Cook, he will soon be studying L2 Food Hygiene.
The group gives me cooking experience and I enjoy coming. People here get help with all sorts of things like job searching, housing or writing CV’s
Aaron
is a customer who was street homeless and living in a tent after been asking to leave family home. He now lives in Ripon. Aaron attends the Foundation Progress Group by walking/hitch hiking from Ripon to Harrogate every week (11 miles). He updates staff on his progress and enjoys seeing others in the group he knows. He has updated his CV, applied for various jobs, and has recently contacted York College to study Mechanics. Hopefully be accepted to start soon!
I like coming as it helps you with all sorts and staff are helpful – oh and plus you get nice food!
Charlotte
also attends Foundation Progress Group and helps out in lots of areas, like setting up, meet and greet customers, and tidying up at the end of the day.
I like coming to help, it keeps me busy and I like to do all sorts – but I don’t like green veg
Some other quotes from Progress Group customers:
My sleep pattern has improved since I have introduced eating meals at regular intervals during the day. This also gives me the motivation to get up in a morning instead of staying in bed until around 4pm where I would normally eat pizza and that would be it until the same time next day”
“I enjoy helping others at the cook and eat and have a real passion for cooking, making pizza base from scratch
The Progress Group runs on Thursdays, 10am – 3pm, at St George’s Community Centre, 2 Mornington Terrace, Harrogate, HG1 5DH. For more information please contact the Harrogate Team.