As government restrictions have continued to ease in Derby and Nottingham, we have been putting the following measures in place:

·         We have continued to increase our face to face detached youth outreach work and 1-2-1 mentoring, focusing on supporting the most vulnerable young people in the local community.

·         We have resumed some group activities such as dance, games and sports outside on local parks with smaller numbers of young people, observing appropriate social distancing and health and safety requirements, with the aim of improving young people’s mental and physical health & wellbeing following months of lockdown.

·         We are ensuring that our Cotton Lane Youth Hub in Derby is Covid-19 secure and ready to reopen as a safe space for individual mentoring and drop ins over the summer.

·         We are getting ready to renovate the derelict Multi Use Games Area outside our Youth Hub, with the support of funding from Sport England, Allenton Big Local and the local Neighbourhood Board, as well as local fundraising by individuals and Derby College.  We are proud to be working with local community partners on this project, which will benefit the wellbeing of the whole community by providing facilities for a wider participation in active outdoor activities and sports.

·         We have been continuing our work with police forces across the country to help address issues of youth violence and exploitation at a strategic level through our Get Connected programme.  We recently piloted some virtual work with our partners in Northumbria Police to develop a SAYVE Plan (Safeguarding Against Youth Violence and Exploitation) in the Blyth area.  We are also working with partners in West Midlands Police as they assess key impact areas, contributing frontline data based on our recent Get Connected sessions in Sparkbrook and Lozells to help contextualise and map out the specific issues affecting those areas.

Our team have been amazing over the past few months and we are delighted to be bringing back all of our team members as our summer holiday programmes get underway.  Our fantastic Board of Trustees have met regularly during this pandemic and have been actively supportive in the areas of safeguarding, finance and governance, helping us to proactively manage this crisis, stay on top of fast moving developments, make crucial decisions and keep our service responsive and agile.  We are very proud that Enthusiasm’s ongoing work with young people has recently been recognised by the Weston Charity Awards, who selected us as one of their Award Winners for 2020.  This award will provide us with both funding and ongoing support over the next year through their dedicated Pilotlight Programme.

However, it is important to highlight that we continue to work in an extremely challenging circumstances.   The implementation of social distancing/stay at home measures due to the current Covid-19 pandemic has increased and exacerbated the complex needs of young people in our community with far less support available to help them cope, especially as a number of agencies are currently only providing a very limited service.  Our experience locally is that young people’s mental health and wellbeing is being negatively affected by this crisis due to the loss of routines, difficulties of social connection, impact of loneliness, disruption to education and challenges of living in difficult or dangerous home situations – which include domestic abuse and increased use of drugs and alcohol. Many of our young people are living in households where there is little or no food, in households without access to online education or support, with no internet/ broadband access or phone data, or having to share one device amongst many household members. They are at a higher risk of exploitation by local criminals due to being out of school for such a long period and they are at increased risk of being groomed online. These issues will require intensive, wraparound support for years to come, to help repair the damage and prevent long term consequences.  We are also currently dealing with escalating wider tensions within the local community, including a recent firearms discharge.

We are incredibly grateful for the ongoing support and flexibility of our existing funders – including Allenton Big Local, the Dulverton Trust, the Rank Foundation, Children in Need, the Youth Endowment Fund, Derby City Council, Nottingham City Council, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Lucas Harrison Trust – who have all stood by us over the past few months and enabled us to continue running our essential services to support vulnerable young people throughout the Covid-19 crisis.  We have also been fortunate to receive extra funding from both Children in Need and the Rank Foundation during this challenging period through their emergency support programmes.  In addition, we have recently been successful in securing new funding through the Boots Charitable Foundation and the Youth Endowment Fund towards projects in both Derby and Nottingham over the next year – which will include the welcome addition of a dedicated Family Support Programme and a Transition Programme for young people in Year 6/Year 7, both of which are crucially needed in the current climate.  Throughout this crisis, we have also been grateful for the support of our strong relationships with a number of key local and national partners including Allenton Big Local, National Working Group (NWG), the Rank Foundation, the Virtual School for Looked After Children and the Home Office.

We continue to be fully committed to delivering youth work throughout this crisis and being there for young people when nobody else is.

‘’ Enthusiasm has given me something to do .. I would just stay in bed if my youth mentor didn’t come and collect me … it’s been good to have someone to talk to about everything that has been going on at home ..”
(Young person on our Triple R Mentoring Programme)

 “ Without my youth mentor, I wouldn’t of left the children’s home in this Covid period as I didn’t feel safe being out in the community.  Carlos would pick me up and take me for a drive in the work car, sometimes we would go for drinks – lately we have been out for food together. I have really enjoyed this time away from my bedroom and my PS4.”

(Young person on our specialist Mentoring Programme for Looked After Children)