More to be done to support city's young people despite rise in engagement, according to Coventry charity
A Coventry charity has insisted more needs to be done to support young people in the city after seeing a three-fold increase in engagement over the last year.
Positive Youth Foundation (PYF) engaged with more than 1,500 participants over a 12-month period from April 2021 to March 2022 as it helped an additional 1,000 local young people into personal development and community engagement opportunities.
The Coventry charity works with young people of all backgrounds, including those facing challenging circumstances, across five programme strands to promote creativity, wellbeing and community.
Jon Boagey, executive director at PYF, insisted there was still a lot to be done to meet the needs of young people in the city considering the social and economic challenges they face.
“Emerging from lockdown and reconnecting with local communities has been a big success, but we want to continue working with our incredible community, charity and corporate partners to deliver PYF’s core aim of helping young people navigate the challenges of life,” he said.
“We engaged with thousands of young people across our programmes, and more across the city through community events and projects, and it’s vital now more than ever that we build on this success so PYF delivers this aim for as many people as possible.”
Responding to pressing social and economic challenges, PYF helped its participants access mental health support, get active, eat nutritious food - all while expanding its mentoring and coaching programme from its base at Hillfields Young People’s Centre.
More than 3,000 people took part in Go Foleshill, a PYF-led Healthy Futures programme aimed at helping the local community, particularly young people, use local spaces to get active.
Elsewhere, PYF helped 214 participants access creative spaces and gain creative industry experience through its Changing Trax programme, and supported 139 young people experiencing challenges in mainstream education through the Building Better Opportunities– part of its Raising Aspirations Programmes (RAP).
A total of 247 young people were referred to PYF from local schools, Coventry City Council and other statutory services specifically for support around mental health, school attendance and improving their physical activity levels.
The charity also reported an increase in its engagement with newly arrived people following large scale displacement in Afghanistan, Ukraine and Hong Kong.
PYF participants were also involved in a range of events in the national and international spotlight over the last year, including a month-long programme around the arrival of Little Amal, a 3.5m puppet representing refugees across the world as part of its role as Honorary Partner in the Coventry City of Culture celebrations.
It also supported young people taking part in the MOBOs, which were held at the Coventry Building Society Arena, and contributed to the community and outreach programme for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
