Glen Communit Parent Youth Grou
Statement of Mana
the
ement Committee's Res
ear ended 31 March 2024
onsibilities for
Achievements and Performance
The past twelve months witnessed an increase in the level of Services/activities
organised in the Glen Community Complex. More than 55,000 User Visits were
made by children, young people, families and adults using our Services for
Daycare, After-schools, Youth, Education/Training, Family Support, Sporting,
Healthy Living Programmes and Advocacy Services.
We enhanced our Partnership arrangements with St. Gerard's School, Lenadoon
Community Forum, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, Education Authority,
Outerwest Family Support Hub, Women into Sport, Lenadoon Community
Counselling Project and a wide range of Networking Bodies. Our Social Economy
Daycare and After-schools Projects enabled us to employ additional staff. We
had a very positive Inspection by the BHscf Early Years Teams in July 2023. We
also had several very positive Moderation Visits for our Youth Services by the
E.A. Inspectorate in the past year.
The Education Authority strengthened their relationship with us and we were
successful in our funding application to them. Our Inclusion Project with St.
Gerard's now runs two days a week. The revenue from the Daycare and
Afterschool's Project this year resulted in a greater income and also an increase
in our expenditure and outputs. This enabled us to be able to cover the huge
increase in Staff and Running Costs for the Group. With the increase in minimum
wage and huge increase in gas, electric, cleaning and running costs, we wouldn't
have been able to deliver the same level of Services in the Complex without the
revenue raised by our Social Economy Project. It is also proving difficult to recruit
staff with only short term contracts on offer.
We witnessed an increase in the number of requests to use our rooms and Main
Hall for Meetings, Family Contact, Training, Workshops and Sporting/Health
Activities and Programmes. We also hosted a number of activities and Events in
the Complex as part of the Lenadoon Community Festival. We moved our

Halloween Events Indoors (due to torrential rain} and it proved really successful
with over 500 enjoying the Festivities on the evening.
We organised and delivered a 7 week Summer Scheme for over 200 young
people and an eight week Summer Camp for 14 young people. Over thirty
children from our Daycare Project graduated in June. Our Youth Staff Co-
ordinated a Winter Toy Appeal locally which resulted in hundreds of toys being
donated and distributed to local families.
We worked in partnership with Lenadoon Women's Group to facilitate a Winter
Families in Need Appeal which resulted in over 100 needy local families and
individuals receiving food, Clothes, toiletries, fuel, etc. over the Christmas/New
Year period and to supply Utility Vouchers to those in greatest need. Adult
Safeguarding, Child Protection, Paediatric First Aid, Mindfulness and Suicide
Prevention Training, was provided to the Staff and Volunteers in the past 12
months. Our staff over the past 6 months have played a key role in facilitating
consultations for local people for the Lenadoon Peoples Plan.
The main focus of our activities, programmes and services throughout the year
was targeted at disadvantaged individuals and families, many of whom were
referred from a variety of Health and Social Care Professionals. We increased
our Reserves to reflect the increase in staff and running costs and to ensure that
we would have six months cover in the event of an emergency or loss of funding.
We are also conscious of the fact that funding for the majority of our staff ends
in March 2025 and with political uncertainties, Funders cannot guarantee
st
anything beyond March 31 2025.
We adhered to all our Charity Commission obligations and had inspections of
our facilities carried out by the Health and Safety Executive and Belfast City
Council.
With the current cost of living crisis, we will continue to provide a wide variety
of Services to the most vulnerable individuals and families within the
Neighbourhood to improve their quality of life. We are indebted to our landlords
APEX Housing Association for their support and maintenance service throughout
the past 12 months.

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