2022-07-28-accounts

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Annual Report 2022 Fresh Youth Milton Keynes

DATE PREPARED

19/10/2022

CONTACT

Kayode Komolafe kayode@freshyouthmk.org General Tel: +44 7398 654917

Margaret Powell House Midsummer Boulevard Milton Keynes MK9 3BN

freshyouthmk.org

1.	FYMK Story so far .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.	Community engagement .......................................................................................................................................................... 5
3.	Changes and impacts made (both big and small) ................................................................................................................ 8
4.	What have we learnt? .............................................................................................................................................................. 10
5.	Continuous improvement ......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Fresh Youth MK

Fresh Inspiration, Margaret Powell House, Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes. MK9 3BN tel: +44 (0) 7535 624081 | www.freshyouthmk.org | fymk@freshyouthmk.org Registered Charity No 1195348 in England and Wales

1. FYMK Story so far

The funding from the National lottery community fund has helped us achieve the following

in a short space of time. FYMK has been recognised as a mainstay in the youth service forum in Milton Keynes. We have been able to provide the following:

One-to-one mentoring: We have provided mentoring sessions to 59 young people with volunteer mentors from different businesses and organisations in Milton Keynes. We had 70 young people registered for mentoring this year.
Total Number of unique participants both volunteers and beneficiaries: 137
- Children / Young People (up to 18 years old): 46
- Young People 18 to 25 years old – 13
- Older People (60 or over): 5
- Non-White: 93
- People with Disabilities (Learning or Physical): 4
Empowerment sessions: We delivered three sessions for young people aged 13 – 18. The empowerment covered the following themes of youth development
Identity, self-awareness and managing emotions.
Communication, Resilience, and determination
Career Guidance, Pathways and making the right choices.

The sessions were attended by count of 73 young people, 25 unique attendees. We had professionals from businesses, Education and the Police delivering and facilitating the sessions.

All the feedback comments from the empowerment session were positive. Here are some feedback comments

“It was very welcoming. I had an informative debating session and enjoyed engaging with other youth” - MC

Fresh Youth MK

“The communication session was inclusive; it was fun, and I received a lot of advice on how to deal with different life-scenarios” - DA

“I learnt about myself and how to interact with new people” - TD

“The awareness session helped me to think of topics that I would normally haven’t thought of. I got a deeper understanding of my identity” – AO

“I had opportunity to talk and be listened to and to express my feelings opportunity to share ideas.” - DC

Youth Achievement recognition in School:
FYMK contributed to the recognition of student end of year achievement award at Lord grey Academy. It was a good experience for the students, they are happy to be celebrated.
Awareness of FYMK work in the community:
Africa Diaspora Community event-
Afro Caribbean event
MK College Freshers Fair
Newton Leys Local Business exhibition
School Engagement and Assemblies:
Lord Grey Academy
Stantonbury School
St Paul’s School

Fresh Youth MK

2. Community engagement

Minority ethnic community and police dialogue:
Fresh Youth MK is very conscious of collaborative approach to community engagement. We have worked with various organisations in Milton Keynes to further the objective of youth development, crime prevention and community cohesion. We worked with the Thames Valley Police, African Diaspora and forMK to promote collaborative working between the local community organisations (parents of young people at risk) and the police and increase awareness of the issues and challenges the minority ethnic communities face in Milton Keynes.
Promotion events with African Diaspora to engage the minority ethnic community in the Youth mentoring programme, engage prospective mentors and mentees from the community.
Presence at community events and festivals to promote awareness of FYMK and our work. We had an audience with the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire at one of the festivals and they were really impressed with our work and the opportunities and difference our work is making.

Fresh Youth MK

County Line awareness and prevention: In collaboration with forMK we organised county line awareness seminar and workshop. The programme informed parents and young people on the signs of grooming and prevention approaches. The programme was attended by over 120 people.
Multi-Agency Relationship - As part of the mentoring programme for young people at risk, we are engaged by local agencies involved with youth welfare in Milton Keynes. We are involved the strategy meetings for best approach in serving and supporting young people to cultivate, improve and attain. Some of the agencies that we work with are
Youth Offending team (YOT)
MK Family Service
Thames Valley Police and Crime Prevention Squad
The Social Services
Pupil referral Unit

Other local organisations we work with are, schools, faith groups, youth groups, businesses and sporting clubs.

Changes to the way we work

Our collaboration with other organisations in the community has opened up opportunities and in order to seize the opportunity to make an impact and influence the narrative, the way we worked in some areas changed from the original plan.

Out of School to In School – The original mentoring programme was designed to take place outside of school with parental consent to avoid disruption to pupil’s lessons. After engaging the schools and discussing the programme, we are faced with realisation of diversity in requirements of different schools due to contexts and the safeguarding policies of the school. We adapted as required to kick off and start making impact.
Multi-Agency Engagement – With several referrals of young people at risk to FYMK programme, we had to engage all agencies that are working with the young person, attend the strategy meetings. The demand was not anticipated, but we adapted.
Face to Face to Virtual and Hybrid mentoring – The blueprint for the programme did not anticipate virtual or hybrid mode of mentoring. Due to changes in mentoring times and physical availability of some mentors, we had to adapt and include virtual / hybrid video mentoring into our delivery model.
More dependency on agency partnerships – Some of our beneficiaries need other levels of support that our mentors are not equipped to offer. In such cases we had to signpost to complementing service providers and start

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forming partnerships. Some of the services required are

  - Counselling

  - Extra tuition

  - Parental / family support

  - Mental health care

Making most of the strengths of Milton Keynes – In delivering the empowerment sessions, we engaged the professionals and specialists in key industries that we need to deliver the empowerment sessions. We got professionals from
The Police
Speech and Language expert
MK College
MK Ethnic Business Community

In collaborating and bringing experts and professionals together, we leveraged the strengths of other organisations in MK. As the only ethnic minority youth mentoring organisation in MK, our work is now integral to the strategic plan for ethnicity and diversity in MK. We are part of the Race Action Plan panel for MK.

FYMK is part of the Youth Forum planning in MK for Career, Aspirations and Attainment.

FYMK’s work is highlighted in Milton Keynes’ successful bid for City status as one of MK’s strength of community engagement and investment in the next generation of leaders.

Fresh Youth MK

3. Changes and impacts made (both big and small)

The changes and impact of the programme is attested to by stories of our beneficiaries, the volunteers and other voices that have been touched by our work.

In numbers:

	Year 1	Year 1
Programmes	Target	Actual
Mentoring	60	70
Education and Career Guidance	50	35
Exposure to Business Environment	15	3
Life, Leadership and Employability Skills	70	73
Sub Total (Number of Young People)	195	181

Other Mentor-related Activities	Target	Actual
Number of Assemblies	2	4
Number of Students & Young People Attending	250	175
Total Number of Young People attending	500	700

Overall Total	695	881

Because this is the first set of data, the impact assessment and journey reflection cannot be conclusive at this point. Evaluation and outcome/impact reports will be developed as more data are gathered.

Volunteers’ stories : BO’s story

“I was attracted to becoming a mentor because I like to help the younger generation achieve their goals and to help them find their motivation. I have a young daughter and am therefore fully aware of the issues facing young people today.

I discovered that in order to help young people, the young person has to want to be mentored because it won’t work if they are not interested, they have to want to improve their life and situation.

My journey so far has been fulfilling and eye-opening and has helped me see that my daughter could benefit from something like this- so I have got a mentor for her. I hope that my mentee will take what she has learnt from my mentoring into her future life as she goes to college, university, or work. So far, her grades have improved, she is working harder, her confidence has improved and she has changed mindset about studies

The training I have received have been beneficial, I have learnt to listen more attentively and have learnt more about the struggle of young people.

LR’s story

Since connecting with my mentee there has been changes along the way to say the least but with my guiding and steering and mentee away from any negative behavioural patterns and

Fresh Youth MK

gently encouraging this young man to understand that his decisions can carry a heavy weight of responsibility and consequence.

I was able to find a sporting activity for my mentee which he attends every Saturday morning on a weekly basis of which he takes personal responsibility of making sure he attends which i am glad to say that he thoroughly enjoys and looks forward to it. I also attend regular monthly zoom meetings with my mentee’s social worker, his father and his school headteacher for progress report.

Mentees:

“Best part of mentoring is talking about changes I am facing and seeking guidance on how to solve the challenges and learning new things” BN (St Pauls)

“My Mentor was able to indicate to me which part of my education I needed to focus on and how to apply consistency in everything I do. Mentoring could be improved by holding more frequent sessions” VO (St Pauls)

Schools (Mentoring Champions/Teachers):

Thank you card from Lord Grey Academy

The major changes from original plan were the level of demand expected from 18 – 25 years old. The demand from 18-25 years old was much lower than expected but there was a lot higher increase in demand for the younger age group, which translates to early intervention, and it has indicated some positive changes in some of the beneficiaries and their relationship at home and better engagement at school.

Operations, Systems & Tools

We have been able to improve our operations with the implementation of MS SharePoint and MS Teams which enables secured data storage and improved data protection and GDPR compliance.

The mentors have also benefited from the programme in terms of personal development. We have monthly peer-to-peer sessions among the mentors. Coupled with peer-to-peer sessions, safeguarding training, fundamentals of mentoring and tools & techniques of mentoring training as well as online portal with continuous learning materials for effective and efficient mentoring.

Fresh Youth MK

4. What have we learnt?

We acknowledge that some things have gone well in the last 6 months while some areas need improvement and need to be changed.

Here are some of the things that have gone well:

Training and Development of the Mentors – The training provided to the mentors were of good standard and the feedback from the mentors was 100% positive. The mentors received safeguarding, fundamentals of mentoring and Tools and Techniques of mentoring. The increase in youth crime in MK also influences the training development offered to the mentors.
Safer recruitment - We have adopted a safer recruitment policy as our mentors deal with young people some of whom are vulnerable. We completed DBS checks on all our staff and volunteers, and they all go through Safeguarding training before matching with a mentee. We also ensure parental consent is obtained for any referrals under the age of 18.
Flexibility – There have been a lot of changes from the original plan, but we have been able to review and make reasonable adjustments as required by the partners and beneficiaries. Changes required by the schools were challenging, especially for the mentors that work full-time.
Happy mentees – Using the Save the Children Happy Childhood Index survey questionnaire, our mentees are happy, and we expect a follow-up survey to reflect an improvement.
Empowerment sessions – The sessions were very and it gave the young people the opportunity to visit a work environment which they found inspiring. The session also created an environment to explore ideas and think open-mindedly. They also had the opportunity to ask questions from a young adult.

Learning points on things to improve

Level of Relationship – To build partnerships with other organisations, we learnt that it must be at the senior level. Without the buy in at the senior level, the relationship is not sustainable or may not take off at all. This was our experience in one of the schools.
Managing expectations – It is important to provide relevant information in timely manner to all our stakeholders. By so doing, we can manage the expectations of the beneficiaries and the mentors. It is important that the mentors understand the process timeline and manage timeline when they can be matched.
Workload – The demand for the service has grown a lot faster than we projected. This has been influenced by the increase in youth crime in MK, this has also changed the profile of the mentees. The rapid growth in demand would have to be managed by redesigning the service process with a better understanding of demand curve and

Fresh Youth MK

the varied profiles of our mentees. We would need to build capacity for different beneficiary profile groups.

Future Plan

“Momentum” employability Training - The major service that we planned to start but haven’t started is the “momentum”, an 8-week employability programme for 18 – 25-year-olds. We plan that within the next year, we would roll it out.
Youth Hub – We have not been able to secure the hub space that we need for regular activities and the venue for our training programme. This is to be a safe space for young people. We will continue to liaise with the community foundation for a suitable space. The interim solution is venue hire, which is more costly than securing a permanent or long lease.
Commissioned Service - Explore the options of developing commissioned services with the local authority for financial sustainability.

Fresh Youth MK

5. Continuous improvement

Service design - From our learning, we will design mentoring service that fits various profile of the mentee that we serve. The services will take into account the age range, the context and environment and the time requirements.
Minimum Specialist Training – We will seek to provide some specialist training for some mentors, so that we can provide first response to some special needs pending availability of specialists and signposting to specialists.
Parental Support – We will source pool of specialists that can provide support and equip parents with tools and techniques in dealing with some of the issues faced by their children and young adults
Culture shift - Our commitment is to build community cohesion and help Milton Keynes to thrive from generation to generation. We will continue to encourage, and motivate young people and promote a culture of aspiration. We will celebrate both little progress and big success.
Joined up thinking collaboration - We will continue to liaise and work in collaboration with other organisations and businesses with the focus on leveraging each other’s strengths to build a cohesive and thriving community.

Support

Financial support - To continue to grow and achieve our objectives, we will need financial support, especially with the cost-of-living crisis. If we don’t increase our base salary, it will be difficult to recruit staff with the right level of skills, experience, and competence.
Recommendations – We would like to be recommended to other organisations in Milton Keynes that complement our services.

Fresh Youth MK

Profit and Loss

Fresh Youth Milton Keynes

For the period 29 July 2021 to 31 July 2022

Account	29 Jul 2021-31 Jul 2022
Turnover
Grant Received	21,000.00
Total Turnover	21,000.00
Cost of Charity Activities
Direct Costs	2,000.00
Total Cost of Charity Activities	2,000.00
Surplus	19,000.00

Reserve	19,000.00

Balance Sheet

Fresh Youth Milton Keynes As at 31 July 2022

Balance Sheet Fresh Youth Milton Keynes As at 31 July 2022
	Account	31 Jul 2022
Current Assets
	Cash at bank and in hand
	20574453360547	19,000.00
	Total Cash at bank and in hand	19,000.00
Total Current Assets Capital and Reserves		19,000.00
	Net Current Assets(Liabilities)	19,000.00

	Total Assets less Current Liabilities	19,000.00

	Net Assets	19,000.00

	Current Year Earnings	19,000.00
Total Capital and Reserves		19,000.00

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CONTACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Fresh Youth MK

1. FYMK Story so far

Fresh Youth MK

Fresh Youth MK

2. Community engagement

Fresh Youth MK

Fresh Youth MK

3. Changes and impacts made (both big and small)

In numbers:

Volunteers’ stories : BO’s story

LR’s story

Fresh Youth MK

Mentees:

Schools (Mentoring Champions/Teachers):

Operations, Systems & Tools

Fresh Youth MK

4. What have we learnt?

Here are some of the things that have gone well:

Learning points on things to improve

Future Plan

Fresh Youth MK

5. Continuous improvement

Support

Profit and Loss

Fresh Youth Milton Keynes

For the period 29 July 2021 to 31 July 2022

Balance Sheet