YMCA England & Wales

Stepping into the New Year with a digital boost! Young people from YMCA North Staffordshire are being empowered to take confident strides to reach their potential with exciting Digital Skills workshops delivered by Wavemaker Stoke. 🖱️ 👨💻 ✍️ This valuable training is equipping young people in effectively mastering AI in CV writing, job applications and more. 🌟 #YMCA #YouthEmployability #DigitalSkills #SkillsWorkshop #AI #Tech #Training

🔊 What is your 2024 #wrapped highlight? 🎄 YMCA Youth Ambassador Sade from YMCA St Paul's Group tells of her phenomenal year. 🎊 #YMCA #Recap #EndOfYearThoughts

David Owen OBE has retired from our Board of Trustees! We can't thank David enough for the 31 years of commitment, compassion and wisdom that he has brought to the charity. David always has the young people the charity supports in the forefront of his mind and is always keen to ensure their needs are met. At AGM on Thursday the Board of Trustees paid an emotional farewell to David led by a wonderful speech from our Chair David Daly. On Friday we were able to thank David in person for all that he has done. Please join us in thanking David for his incredible contribution to YMCA Sutton Coldfield. YMCA England & Wales Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council Birmingham City Council BVSC Royal Sutton Coldfield Chamber of Commerce

✨ Taking pride in your living space is essential to de-stress, unwind and thrive! 🛋️ Residents from YMCA York and East Riding at YMCA Robin Hood Group have had their common area transformed with the ultimate glow-up thanks to the B&Q in Goole's voluntary team! From colour paint to flooring and furniture, residents were involved in this process every step of the way. And the end-result is a solid effort from all part of this 'operation renovation'. 🤩 A supported housing young person has even gone on to work part-time at B&Q from this valuable community initiative! 🎯 #YMCA #SupportedHousing #Renovation #DIY #YouthHomelessness #B&Q #Homerenovation #CommunityPartnerships #CommunityVolunteers #BuildingFutures

Sunday shoutout to young people and staff from YMCA Northumberland who put the FUN in fundraising with the ultimate challenge event, "Jammin' in Jarmies". 🎧🪩 The all-night danceathon featured nonstop music, a disco, karaoke, and more, raising a fantastic £800 towards the Empower Ashington Fund, which will support young people to access a part-time youth worker, helping transform young lives in the community! 💰 ✨ #YMCA #LocalFundraiser #YouthWork #BrightFutures #CommunityImpact #Charity

This week, YMCA Exeter showed a beautiful depiction of solidarity for care-experienced young people in their community. 💫 Emphasising the need to provide more safe and affordable homes for care leavers in Torbay, YMCA Exeter visited the site of the 'care leavers tree' rooted by the local council in Paignton. 469 flags were placed representing the number of care leavers locally, around the tree as a reminder of Torbay Council's pledge to support care-experienced young people. Andy, a care leaver and YMCA Exeter resident, also discussed the importance of the local government in supporting young people leaving care. 🌳 🎋 🚩 #YMCA

Last week, Allison, the Y’s Girls Project Co-ordinator for Central YMCA, and volunteer mentor Taylah visited Lucas Vale Primary School in South East London to surprise a very special mentee and Y’s Girls' first Youth Impact Ambassador (YIA) for London. 🎊 The school put on a special assembly to help celebrate the mentee’s huge success, presenting her with a certificate and playing a video showcasing her achievements and involvement in the programme to date. The video highlighted how empowering the experience has been, featuring pictures of various opportunities, including meeting the Deputy Young Mayor of Lewisham, having her voice heard, and giving her opinion on the programme and its accessibility for young girls. The young mentee was presented with a mascot, who she named Freddie, and who will remain with her for as long as she is in the YIA programme. When asked how she felt about the surprise, the mentee shared that she was so happy and very much surprised - she could not stop smiling. Well done! 🙌 #YMCA #YouthEmpowerment #Mentorship

Colleagues from various different teams across Cadent Gas Limited pulled together to decorate a YMCA supported accommodation for young people. YMCA Walthamstow is a supported housing scheme where accommodation and support are provided as a package. Their scheme is designed to help residents develop in all aspects of life; mind, body and spirit, enabling them to live at the accommodation and then move onto independent living. We manaed to paint bedrooms, hallways and build new flat pack furniture for the kitchen. A great day was had by all and a huge thank you to everyone who came along to help on the day 🙌 YMCA England & Wales and Cadent Gas Limited joined forces over a year and half ago to support young people and communities to combat fuel poverty and isolation through a VCMA funded project. Cadent employees get two paid days per financial year to volunteer for the good causes which align to our social impact framework🙌

Because we're stronger when we come together to tackle the challenges our communities face head-on. 🌟 As the largest voluntary sector provider of supported housing for young people in England and Wales, we're amazed to see YMCA St Paul's Group be part of a powerful cross-sector collaboration alongside The Mayor of London, The London Assembly, London Councils and other partners over the last year to end homelessness. 🏠 💙 Their efforts have been consolidated with an interactive display for the campaign in Picadilly Circus, London. During the busy peak of Christmas shopping, millions will hit the streets of the West End. Congratulations to everyone involved! 👏 Find out more about The London Charter 📜 🖋️ to End Rough Sleeping 🛏️ ⬇️: https://bit.ly/49xLCaE #YMCA #EndHomelessness #LondonCharter #RoughSleeping #SectorPartnership

"I’ve come a long way from a very troubled child who thought the world was against me and who was ready to give up. Without YMCA, I don’t think I would have come this far." - Rebecca, ex-resident at Southend YMCA. The season of giving comes in many forms, and during this period, those supported by YMCA express their heartfelt gratitude to those who helped them discover their potential. Returning to the place that afforded her safety, belonging, and happiness, Rebecca is flourishing today, leading an independent life as a thriving community leader! #YMCA #YouthHomelessness #Housing