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Comic Relief funding for pioneering youth project |
RKdia, Drum Housing Association’s pioneering youth support and community centre,
RKdia, Drum Housing Association’s pioneering youth support and community centre, has been awarded a £75,000 grant by Comic Relief, to fund a new project that will build on RKdia’s work with homeless young people. The grant will be used to start up HOME (Homeless Offered Mentoring Empowerment), a three-year project, which will enable RKdia to work with young people throughout East Hampshire.
HOME will recruit and train volunteers as mentors, to interact with young people who are either resident at RKdia, homeless, or considered to be in danger of becoming homeless. Through HOME, RKdia will be able to substantially expand their one-to-one mentoring, run more youth support groups and expand their activities as a community drop-in centre.
Laura Roling, UK Grants Officer for Comic Relief, said, "Drum Housing Association's HOME project will be supporting some very vulnerable young people, helping to build their self esteem, address the difficulties they are facing, and prevent them from becoming homeless. As an organisation committed to reaching people in great need and helping to bring about lasting improvements in their lives, Comic Relief is delighted to be funding this worthwhile project".
RKdia have already appointed a full time Project Co-ordinator to run HOME. Linda Groves, who took up the position at the end of August, believes the project will build on RKdia’s success. "RKdia has a proven track record of helping young people to fend for themselves and develop life-skills that enable them to live and thrive on their own," she explains. "Personal support and ongoing contact are at the heart of the HOME scheme. I hope that some of the young people who have benefited from the scheme will go on to become mentors themselves".
Since opening in 2002, RKdia has combined their work with young people with the running of a succesful catering and business conference operation in order to help finance the operation. Rkdia provides supported housing for 16 – 25 year olds, runs youth support groups, a community drop-in centre and organises social activities.
The grant is the latest in a string of successes for RKdia, who were runners-up as 'Business Team of the Year' in the News Business Awards and who’s young residents have won a number of football awards under the coaching of Scheme Manager, Chris Adams.
Chris sees the Comic Relief grant as a major achievement for the RKdia team. He said, "When we started RKdia our focus was on survival, no one knew what the future held. It is a massive tribute to the staff and volunteers who work here that we are in only our fifth year and we are not only surviving but expanding our services and support to young people all over Hampshire." |
