Category: Youth & Community

We are proud to be a host venue for a powerful project capturing the responses of Leicestershire people to the Black Lives Matter movement. You can come and visit the exhibition up until Friday 29th of October at The Y Theatre Tuesday and Wednesday, 2pm until 4pm and also for one hour before any shows. Our theatre is at 7 East Street, Leicester.

The Black Lives Matter Too! Project was co-curated by Leicestershire County Council’s Participation team and Opal 22, an arts organisation which empowers members of the Black community to become more active participants in heritage and culture. The organisations worked together with local people and dedicated volunteers to capture their lived experiences of racism and its effects, as well as exploring solutions for challenging racism.
Individuals and organisations were also asked to pledge to make positive changes in support of Black Lives Matter – with all the material gathered during the project being brought together in a powerful exhibition which ran at Charnwood Museum earlier this year and which can still be viewed online in virtual form – including more than over 40 video testimonies from local people – at Community Curators.

Paul Brown, CEO at The Y said: “We are delighted to be hosting this incredible exhibition. We want to support as many people as possible to access it and learn from the experiences of local people. The Y has formed a “Responding to #BLM” group with other YMCAs in the region to listen to the voices of black staff and service users, share experiences and build trust within our charities. We hope this exhibition will help others to reflect and generate their own ideas for positive change.”

Our Pledge
The Y have made a commitment to appoint a Trustee with lead responsibility for Equality & Diversity, who will report to the Board of Trustees annually. All staff at The Y will participate in an external Equality & Diversity perception survey and The Y will continue to provide training for all staff (at all levels) on Equality & Diversity.

To celebrate Remember a Charity Week we have launched a new service to enable our friends and staff to set up a basic will for free! Remember a Charity Week 2021 is from 6th – 12th September. BUT, we intend to offer this service all year round.

After providing for your loved ones, we hope that you’ll consider leaving a gift to The Y. Your gift will provide a safe place and fair start for homeless young people in Leicester, long into the future.

There is absolutely no obligation to do this, your will is free either way! To find out more on our free will service, visit our Gifts in wills page.

We’d like to shine a light on some incredible businesses who have gone above and beyond to show our organisation that human beings are pretty blooming fantastic. In a year or two where the world has seemed a little chaotic, these businesses have not turned their back on youth homelessness.

• RKH and Weightmans chose The Y as their Charity of the Year and rallied a big group of colleagues to come together virtually for a fundraising sleep out.
• RKH also provided us with some fab pro-bono design work.

• Funds from Pukka Pies and Highcross have helped us launch Y Skills Matter, which provides an exciting learning programme for young people.
• Impact Air are working with Y Skills Matter to provide training and work experience for our young people.

• Mattioli Woods provided a work experience placement for a young person which led to a permanent position.
• Two businesses sponsored a house: Beauty with a Purpose and STB who’ve been superstars with pro-bono design work and donating a freezer in lockdown.

• Utilita have created and taken part in their own fundraising challenge and donated vouchers for every young person here at The Y at Christmas.
• Combined Knowledge provided 10 laptops for our young people and offered training sessions to both staff and residents.

• Mercer Building Solutions donated to the “Save Our Theatre” campaign which supported the re-opening of The Y Theatre in May.
• Asda and many more businesses have provided us with donations of food, toiletries, crafts, towels, bedding, furniture and Christmas cheer!

Our exciting partnership with Gallagher:
“What a wonderful bunch of people who go out of their way to help support some of Leicestershire’s most vulnerable young people. I would personally like to thank them for letting us be an extended part of their team and helping to pull off an amazing charity event together, Cirque du Y. I hope local businesses share my values and help support this worthy charity”
Andrew Franks, Gallagher.
Thanks to these and so many more for making a massive difference to the lives of young people living here at The Y. If your business or work place would like to be on our ‘pretty blooming fantastic human beings’ list… please get in touch.
Thanks again,
Emma, Carly and Michelle ????

We can now reveal that The Y is a Not-For-Profit-Organisation finalist in the Leicestershire Live Business Awards! We are so proud to have been selected by BHIB Insurance Brokers as a charity that not only supports some of the most disadvantaged young people in our community but also plays an important role in the city’s culture and heritage. Our amazing staff have kept going with such strong resolve over the last year and this nomination is a testament to their hard work!
????????????????????????

We’re appealing to the Leicester Community to help us find vacant city centre premises which could host The Y Support Project.  We are struggling to find the right space but we need to move swiftly or risk losing our vital service for rough sleepers. Please share with your network!

To give you some background, our amazing Y Support Project was required to leave its usual base at the Dawn Centre to safeguard service users at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, we were warmly welcomed to share a space with Inclusion Healthcare as a temporary measure. While nobody could have anticipated this situation nearly 12 months on, we are now in desperate need of a more permanent solution.

For 26 years The Y Support Project has been a lifeline for rough sleepers in the city, with a wealth of expertise in helping people in crisis to make positive changes in their lives. Without a home for our project we will be forced to stop helping some of the most disadvantaged people who need us.

Contact Us

We are seeking a minimum space of 64m2 with additional toilet, shower and kitchen facilities to help our small team offer practical support and advice to around 30 homeless adults a day, limited to six people at a time. As a charity costs are an important consideration. We’d love you to contact us swiftly for the full spec and to discuss any opportunities. Please send any enquiries to [email protected]

Marc’s Story

“????’???????? ℎ???????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ℎ????????????????ℎ ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????ℎ???????????????????????? ℎ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????? 2017. ???????????????????? ????????????????ℎ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????, ???? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????? ???? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????? ????ℎ???? ???????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????? ????ℎ???? ???? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????. ????????’???? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????ℎ ????ℎ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???? ???????????????????? ???? ????????????????, ????ℎ???????????? ????’???????? ???????????????? ???????????? 18 ????????????????ℎ????. ????ℎ???????? ℎ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????, ???????????????????????? ????????????????????, ???????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????ℎ???? ????????????????????????????????????. ????’???????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ℎ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????? 3 ????????????????ℎ????. ???? ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ℎ???????????? ???????????????????????????????? ????ℎ???????? ???????? ????ℎ???????????? ????’???? ???????? 18 ????????????????ℎ???? ????????????.”

A little over a year ago, Jane Earp and Kevin Blair began working with young people from The Y and Park Lodge on a project called “Shout Out”. The aim has been to engage one of the most marginalised groups, young homeless people, with the arts. Both artists themselves, Jane and Kevin have worked with homeless centres in Leicester for over 4 years. This project has had over 50 residents of The Y and Park Lodge take part.

The original intention to celebrate the end of the project would have been an exhibition at Soft Touch Arts. Unfortunately, a global pandemic had other plans, BUT we are delighted to share the following with you. Jane and Kevin have put together an online gallery to showcase the amazing work that has come from the last 12 months.

There is a video introducing the project and the artists which epitomises what “Shout Out” has achieved. See first hand what the workshops looked like and how much the young people embraced expressing themselves. You’ll also hear first hand from the young people about their participation and what the project has meant to them. It’s a must watch.

View the online gallery here.

Congratulations to Jane and Kevin and thanks to Arts Council, Leicester City Castle Ward and Leicester’s Everybody’s Reading Festival for funding the project.

What a weekend!

Last week we asked you to get active and get involved with The 2.6 Challenge and support us at The Y.

The 2.6 Challenge was created to help save UK charities as a response to the cancellation of the London Marathon. Rather than taking on the 26-mile run the marathon would have been, the stay-at-home challenge was created to get everyone up and active.

We asked you to set a challenge surrounding the number 2.6 or 26. Take a look at our mid-week response!

Thank you to everyone who got involved to support us, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing you all getting creative with the challenge.

We completed our #TwoPointSixChallenge at the weekend. We made pizzas and only ate 2.6 of them and had an outdoor disco for 26 mins. It was tough but we did it for @TheYCharity pic.twitter.com/4WoF1PaiD7

— Dr Kate Broadhurst (@katebroadhurst) April 27, 2020

For all the fantastic work @TheYCharity does I put my bike balancing skills to the test with 2.6 minutes of track-standing #TwoPointSixChallenge pic.twitter.com/CLJTunCwT5

— Daniel Sweeney (@dan_sweeney) April 26, 2020

What is Autism?

Autism is a lifelong, developmental disability which affects how people communicate, relate and experience the world around them. Autistic people may see, hear and feel the world differently to others. Many autistic people state how a world with autism often feels overwhelming which can cause considerable anxiety.

Autism is a spectrum condition meaning that autistic people share certain difficulties, but experience them in different ways. Autistic people often have additional learning disabilities, mental health or other conditions, resulting in different levels of support being needed.

All people on the autistic spectrum will learn and develop, and with the right support, can live a fulfilling life.

Autism Awareness Week

Autism Awareness Week is a week dedicated to spreading awareness and putting a spotlight on the hurdles that people with autism experience every day and to increase understanding and acceptance of the disability.

You can find out more about Autistic Awareness Week and work that is being done on the National Autistic Society website.

Flat 108 at The Y

Flat 108 it a safe place in Leicester City Centre aimed at enabling independence for those with additional needs including support for those with autism as well as other physical, sensory or learning disabilities.

At Flat 108, we can provide support with shopping, cooking and meal planning, personal care, socialising, keeping safe and much more.

We are committed to providing a safe place to practice daily living skills, build confidence and self-esteem, gain independence, have more control over life, and create goals and plan for the future.

Adam’s Story

After using the service for 10 months, Adam stated, “When I first came here I couldn’t do anything at home. Coming here has drastically changed things. Now I can do my own lunch, go shopping and pay for my shopping myself and help my parents. One of my goals was going shopping and I’ve achieved it. In the future, I would like to travel on the bus.”

Using Flat 108 Services

If you or someone you know has autism or other complex needs, our services could help!

To find out more about the service, there is additional information on our Young People with Disabilities page.

Due to the current climate, this service is on hold, but we are still available to offer support and put plans in place when social distancing measures subside.

You can get in touch and discuss with our team for more in-depth information about the support we can provide for you by emailing: [email protected] or giving our team a ring on: 0116 204 6204

*** Help Needed ***

In the current climate, as a charity responsible for the welfare of 102 vulnerable young people in Leicester City, we need to support our young people in following the social distancing guidelines. We are in desperate need of the following kitchen items to help us provide hot meals for our residents. Who can help us by donating any of the items below in new or nearly new condition?

If you can help, please send a direct message to us through social media to arrange a drop off or collection. Alternatively, you can also contact our Reception who can also help safely co-ordinate this on 0116 255 6507.

Chest freezers x 2 (good working condition)
Large baking trays
Kitchen knives
Cheese graters
Cooking utensils (not wooden)
Chopping boards (not wooden)
Tea towels
Plastics tubs suitable for storing food
Dried/canned foods
Squash/Cordial

You may know that we also support rough sleepers through our Y Support Project. Unfortunately, we are having to limit the numbers who access the service at any one time and are providing take away food pack ups where possible. With numbers lower than average, we are still expecting at least 20 – 30 individual visits per day. We are therefore also in urgent need of the below:

Bottled water
Pot noodles
Cereal bars
Apples
Multi pack crisps
Multipack chocolate or biscuit bars
Milk
Tea
Sugar
Coffee
Hot chocolate