As the football season gets underway, we also celebrate the work of Southend United Community and Educational Trust, another beneficiary of our 2023/2024 community grant.
Southend United Community and Educational Trust received Community Grant funding in 23/24 to develop a new youth club for vulnerable and at-risk children and young people.
The youth club provided a safe, warm, welcoming and inclusive space where young people from the local communities could take part in a range of positive activities; these included different sports and gaming.
The Trust also ran educational workshops, showcased volunteering options and held group discussions on topics such as gangs, knife crime, anti-racism and internet safety.
Work was also done to help improve the children and young people’s self-esteem, confidence, and physical health. Young people felt their sessions at the youth club helped increase their fitness, calmness and composure, as well as supporting them to make friends within their local community.
Jack Medland, Youth Hub Lead at Southend United Community Foundation, said: “The VVU’s funding has helped us to support children and young people across Southend. The main change is the growth in confidence within the young people, and how they are now comfortable to socialise with larger groups and a mixture of ages.”
He continued: Through our work, we have seen huge improvements in the young people’s abilities to adapt to situations which previously would have seemed frustrating for them. The funding has helped us to create a good support system, and we have been able to encourage the young people to open up and share more about themselves. They’re now willing to ask others for support and advice.”
The Southend United Community and Educational Trust was one of 17 community groups across Essex, who in 2023/24 helped support and improve the lives of more than 7000 young people across Southend, Essex and Thurrock.
