The Link Famlly and Community Centrp. Dlrectors, Report for thp. year endlng 31. December 2022 'rhp Tru5tee5 preseiil 11)elr annual dlre¢tor< report and Independently pxamlned flnanclal statement5 for the year endlng 310ecember 2022 whlLh are also PTepared tu meet the requwemenis for a directors, report and accounts Foi Companies Act purp05e& The flnanclal statements comply wlth the Charltles Act (Northern lielandl 2￿8, the Companles Att 2006, the Memorandum and Artlcles of AsS(￿latIOn, and the A¢counllng and Reportlng by chatltles: Statement of Recommended Practice appllcdble to charities preparlng thelr accounls In accordance wltl) the Flnanual Reporilng Standard appll¢able In the UK and Republlc of Ireland IFRS102) leffertlve I january 20151. Chair's report As 2022 beean, we Ilke many wttre encoura8ed io ftnd the world retumlng ¢0 some soit of new nomiall Soclal dtstan¢li)g (Ind face coverlnK began In the most cases to dlqappparlnto the rear￿leW mlrror as Ilfe relurned to somethlnB more famlllar. The Llnk was no dlfforent to rnany other organlsatlons In welcomlng these changes as It allowed us to get back to dolne wl)al wo do bes( meeting face to face with people to help them In the dlfflcult $ltuatlons In whlch they found themselves, MARC clleTrts were able to return to tlie Drop In and our Engllsh classes for speakeTS of other langiiaEe8 returned In per50n. Ourwork wllh young mothers also allowed more personal contact whkh was desperatety iieeded and welcomed by our servlce users. It Is a sad Indlctment of our soclety that the Ards thurches Chrfstlans Agalnst Poverty D?bl Centre whlch we launched In January in conlunctk)ii wlth ￿ local Churches Is at liill capaclty. We currently have a waltlnB Ilst of people who In a world of ever-wDrsenlng econuinlc paln, are despei"ately seekln6 help wlth thelr flnancSal sltuatlon, On the posltive slrle It hos been Wonderf￿ to see Several cllents who have engagèd wlth vursorylce become debt free after followlng the budget drawn up for them by our CAP Debt Centfe Manager. A5 always. we are sograteful for our dedl(Jted stsif a5 well as our fantastic team of more than 35 volunteers. Quite slmply we could nut do what we do wlthout them. One of the upsldes of reslrlctlons belng e45ed was that we were ablo to hold a thank you BBQ ftv our volunteers, tsurvolunteer Coordlnator, John Melvln oven org3njsl1￿ the weather foi. Itl One of Oilr big frustratlons diirlng the pandemle was not btrlllg able lo show In any sort of tanglble way how much wo> valued and 3PPteclated all that ourvolunteors do for The Llnk and for the wlder communlty In Newtownard5. It was fanlastlc to bo able to gEt toeether In person on5Éte to enjoy food and ear.h other's compai)y. John Melvln retlrod from hls pald role as our Diop In Supporl Worker and we wlsh to thank john for hls year5 of falthful 5erYice. WB are dellghied that John h35 agreed to conttnue as our Volullteer Coordlnator on a voluntary basls. On the flnanclal front, we are very grateful that our fiijances are In a healthy p051tion, but tht51s somethlng that we do not tako for granted and the Board along wlth our Dlrector are constantly monltorlnB the sltuatlon. For us as a Board It has never been about chaslng money but rather. finding out what the need Is and then seeklng ways In whlch we can seek re5purces to address the particular need. One of the UAdoubted highllghts 012022 was belng ableto celebrate the 25th annlversary of the charlty. For any c17arltdble organlsatlon to make It to 25 Is iii?thlnB short of remarkable givei) the ever-IncreasSng pre55ure on fiJndlnB. We were due to mark the annlversary on the 8th Seplember but that altern00￿ it was announced that qtieen Ellzabeth hdd very sadly passed away. As a mafk of respec( we declded to Postpone and rearrai)ge the celebrntlon for ?_4, Octobèr Movilla Abbey fjhufch. We wero delighted that 50 many lolned us to celebrate and It was great to share so many good memo11￿5 and gfve thank5 for the 25 year5 of the lrfe and work of The Link. The l.ink Farnily and Community Centre Dlrectors, Report for the year endlng 31, December 2022 In summarywe count It a prlvllegE to be dble to Ket to do what we da and we are thankful to God lor hls f3VDLir ond Boodness to The Unk as look forward to anoil)eryear in hts serv1￿. Our Aims and Oblectlves The purposes ofthè charfiy are: Ti) iidvance communlty development and, p8rtkular, tl)e promotlon of the comn)unltyand voluntary sector lor the beneflt ol the publ1¢ by provldlngsupport, Informatlon, serYlLes andfacilitles to chuir.hes and communliy and voluntary groups and eiirJ)ura8lng such organlsatlons to cO￿perate to achieve tl)elr alms To 5uppoiI those in [￿d by reason of youth* ago,111-heailh, d15abllliyi subsiance dependencyi flnanclal hardshlp orother dlsadvantage To advance edu¢atlon and tralning llnd promote Ihe physlcal, Intell￿tual. and s￿la1 developmeni of youn¥ clilWren To promote #ood communlty rÈlatl(A)s, rellBlous and radal harmony and equallty and dlverslty To promote volunteeilng and recrult. select and traln volursteers for 5ervlces wltlilii the area of beneflt to promotff* thEt srtlal economy and soclal enterprises w￿h1￿ Newtownards and its envlrons for the benefli of the Eeneral publlt and to provldo facllltles In thè Interests of Social welfare for reLieallon and other lelsuTr tlme occupatSons with the object of Improvlng the wndltlohs of IlfÈ for the Inhabltants of Newtownards and Its envlrons. The asplratlon that shapes our annual actlvltles iemalvb5 to enable chlldren, young people, adults and %t)nloi' clttzens to rèae.h Ilielr full potentlal. In partne¥sl)Ip wlth others, we alsn provide practical holp and care for some of the m95t dlsadvanta8ed group5 and IndSviduab In the Ards and North Down Councll area. Our prolert5 addrpss a number of key concerns.. LYFE Youth project works wlih'at rlsy young people; tlie MARC Project seeks to support adult8 wirl) substaDcE addlclions,. tlie church engagement proleet dlms to build rclatlonshlps between churches and thc local communltY* and the volunteer-led proJe¢ts work wlth vulnerable 5enlor Itlzons and mlnority eilinic communltles. Our bulldlng Is also a re50Ufce for otlier Drganlsatlon5 based out￿de Newtownards to offer sorvlces lo local people In thelr local area. Tl)ese Include coun5elllnB and youlli 5ervlces. We liave around 40 commllted volunteer5 whD work across tho organlsatlon along wlth 10 pait-ume and full- tlme staff. statement of Publ1¢ Benellt lrt cletemjlnlng our oblectlves for tlie year and plannlng our aclivitles, the Trustees have con5Idered tho Charlty Commlsslon's Buldante Yhe public benefSt requ1￿ment IPBRII, and also Yhe Trustee's Annual Report and publlc benefit rpporllne IARR081'. Tlie charlty relles on grants from trusts and foundations, local goveTnmeiil, and statutory bodÈes. It also generates Income through Its sodal e(xJnomy retall shop and general fiindralsing actlviiles. The Llnk lTramlly and Communlty Centre DlrectDrs' Report forthe yearending 31" Dec@mt￿r 2022 Achievements and performance Addlctlon Support Servlcgs- MARC Project Floutlngsupport though the Impact of the Covld pandemlc beean to dlmlnlsh throueh the early months of 2022, the MARC stafF team contlnuod to ensure all relevaftt Covld guldance was adhered to, The MARC staffwere deli8hted to be able to move from the prevlous'remote workln8' partern and to dellver a full clleht faclThg service thruugllout the year. In addltlon to provldlng the usual range ofsupp¢Yt le,8. houslng support, benefit adv1￿, 4S51stance to add￿$S substance usel, staff provlded addltiDnol Jrupports suth as collectlon OF prescrlpllon5 and food dpllverles to Floatlnu Support and Drop-ln Centre cllents. The MARC Prolecl played a.slgnlflrdnt rDle in addre551n8 mei)tal health and substance use problems whlch had often been exace￿ated by the pandemlc, throueh the loss uf formal and Informal support networks. Stafl were h5uhly professlonal aiid wmmltled In asslst5ng cllents to access health support thrO￿hOut thSs peTlod, often havlng to provlde transport and acctsiny4ny ¢llents to appolntments. The servlce provlslon coiitliiued to exceod the contrdrted actlvlty Itgure of IB cllents,. the Floatlng Support seTvlce wa5 dellvered to 36 Individvals. The seivlce contlnued to achleve excellent r>utcome$ desplte the Immense cliallenges of the cost-of-Ilvlr>g crlsls whld) Impacted on many of our alre4(Jy struBglinB sen4cè usÈr$. Mdny weye assisted In maklnB 518nlficant changes In thelr Ilv¢s- reduclng alcohol and drug use, malnidlnlng tenan¢les, recefvlng bespoke bpnellt advl¢e and accosslng approprlate health and soclal care. Drop-ln Centre Tlie 'Dr(yp In faclllv functloned ful￿ thro1￿hOUl 2Q?2 and staff were able to prowde a full ranBe of support seNI￿S and activltles. Popular actfvllles Included gullar lessons, tookery classes and qulztes. i'he MARC sl'afr also Èntered Into an agreement wlth the local Benefits Ofnee whereby thelr Staff provlded bèspoke benelll advice on slte at oiir Drop-ln. Uptake for thls 5ervlce remalned hlgh ihioUKh0￿ 2022. As well as the Drop-ln, MARC stsff malntalned rexular telephono contract. whkh helped prevent soclal IsolatSon Bnd provlded asslstance wlth houslng, benèfits and other I￿ueS. They performetl other task5 sucl) as shopplii& payment of gas and electrlclty'top-ups. and collection of prescrlptlons. Staff a5SiSted 5ervlce users to ac￿55 support servltès In relatltsn to health, soclal care and addlctlon. HomelessnessPreyentlon Tl)e Homele55ne55 Preventlon ProJe¢l conllnued to delivBr 5ervlces rhrou8hout the year. Thls project provlded an Invaluthble Support Yilth cllènls regularly commentlng on how benpflcial they had found the servlce to be, partltularly at a tlme when tliey had often Struggled to acces5 Other seivl¢es. MARC Staff Ilalsed c105ely wlth the Ci)Inmiinlty Addlcdon Team and pT0￿dert support for a number of thelr servlce users with housln8 beiiefit problems. This was an Inwaluable asset. partlcularlyfor cllents who had dlffltulty engaglng wilh agenclcs Dr processSn8 onllne applic3ti()ns. Durlng 2022 there were 101 wntacts wlth the servlce whlch more than doubled the targeted actlvlly of 40.15sues belng prnsented IEiduded addiction, homele$5ness and debt. Several ol those pii8aÉlng wlrli the servlce dld 50 at a tlme of crlsls In their lives Includlnga number who presented as l)omeless. A number of contacts wete Indivlduals who were livlng In prlvate rented accoinmodation and had been Issued wllh a 'Noticv. to Quiv due to landlord5 selllng the propertte5. As was tl)È rAse In 202L 2022 presented Significant challenEes of a contlnulng Increas8 In ￿ferra1$ from the wlder Ards Peninsylo area. The Link Familyand Communlty Centre Dlrectors, Report forthe year endln831 Decembe¥ 2022 F￿NdIng Fundln¥ fiom Tl)e Northern Ireland FI￿lSIng ExeEutivds Supporllng Veople prollramme has supported miich of the Floatln6 5upportservlco. Successful fundlng appllcatlons weie also made to the NIHI for Fundlng from Its 'Housing Centre, and 'Homelessness Preventlon Prolecl,. Youth programme- LYFE Young Parentsupport Throughout 2022, our LYFF staff were able io m