At the beginning of 2020, things were looking decidedly bright for Enthusiasm Trust when we donated a surprise £5,000 worth of IT support to them as part of our#Tech4Christmascampaign.
However, when things took an unexpected turn withthepandemic and a national lockdown in the UK, Enthusiasm Trust decided to redirect thefundstodelivering youth services during a difficult time.
Joe Russo,Founder ofEnthusiasm Trust,andHaydn Brady, Finance Manager,tell us more…
What exactly does Enthusiasm Trust do?
We work with highly vulnerable young people in Derby and Nottingham, including looked-after children, those involved in gangs and drug trafficking.
Our objectives are to divert them from lives of criminality, raise their aspirations and build self-esteem, and we do this through a series of positive activities. These include universal youth work(such asspeaking atschool assemblies andrunningyouth clubs), mentoring, family support and community development work.
On a national level,we work with police forces and local authoritiesto deliver consultancy services and training programmes,so organisations can benefit from our experience of direct delivery and learning over the past 25 years.
What challenges has your organisation faced in the past year?
People talk about doing more things online with kidsduring the pandemic, but when it comes to the vulnerable young people we’re working with,doing things onlineisvery difficult.
The kids we’re working with need face-to-face interaction; we’ve got to see and be in the room with them to really understand what’s going on for them.
At different stages of lockdown, with differentlevels of restrictions, we’ve had to adapt and think more creativelywhendelivering services.
Another ongoing challenge for us, as a charity,is getting the funding in. We’re always looking ahead to the next financial year tosecurelong-term funding,and other pots of money thatgive us that freedom to react and respond.
What support has Node4 provided?
The £5,000 we received as part of Node4’s #Tech4Christmas campaign was one ofthose pots of money where we had more freedom in terms of how we used it.Rather than use it on tech, we put it all into the youth delivery budgetso we could spend money in that area during a challenging year.
On the tech side,Node4has continued to provide our cloud infrastructure and run our network.Likemanyorganisations, we’re more reliant on ITthan ever; we’reusing Microsoft Teams for collaboration and delivering ournationaltraining programmesonline.
Node4’s teamsupports us with things thatfor themare so simple, but for our staff, could put a stoptheir day. For example,if staff can’t get on to certain systems, it could stop them fromsending outcrucial information or delivering effective training.
Howhave youprovidedyouth services during the pandemic?
We’ve had to adapt! One of the services we’ve maintained throughout is detached outreach.Covid-19 hasplacedmore pressure on vulnerable kids and their families.When schools have shut down, we’ve seen more kids hanging around the streets,which puts them at higher risk of being exploited.In some cases, their families are struggling financially, whichagain puts them at higherrisk.
So we’ve been continuing with outreach;whether that’s knocking on doors every week, picking upyoung peopleortaking round food parcels fortheirfamilies.Money fromorganisations like Node4hashelped keep ourcentre open andourvehicle on the move.
During times when restrictions have eased,we’ve become more creative in running outdoorsessionsand smaller group sessions within the centre.We carried on doing cookingwith the kids.Cookery is a great thing for kids to get involved in, as they’re learning, budgeting and at the end, they can enjoy eating it too!
Whatare your plans for the future?
Therearea few projects we’re going to be working on over the next year.
We’verecentlyrefurbishedthe multi-use games area outside our youth centre in Derby, so we’ll beable to offeryouthsports from there,as well asfive-a-side tournaments for businesses who want to get involved and raise money forus.
We’re also looking to refurbish our youth centrewith new furniture, kitchen equipment and so on,to provide better facilities andamore comfortable environment forour kids.
Learn more about Node4’sinitiatives to supportcharities and its local communities.
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