On behalf of Wigan Youth Zone, I would like to thank everyone in the Wigan and Leigh community who supported our work over the past year – we are exceptionally grateful. As a charity, we are reliant on all the support we receive to be able to do what we do best, giving the opportunity for young people in Wigan and Leigh to fulfil their potential.
The past year has been another hard one for young people with more lockdowns, disruptions to school, college or employment and restrictions on activities – all of which have contributed to a number of challenges that have been faced by a large number of the 4,000+ young people we work with. As a result we have seen worsening mental health, increasing safeguarding concerns and a range of other social issues being faced.
I am very proud of the positive impact our charity has had on thousands of young people over the past year, whether that was (re) taking our provision online, running face to face programmes or via the engagement of young people on streets and in parks across the borough. In addition to our daily service for young people, we also ran a variety of initiatives to support the most vulnerable in our community – including our most recent ‘Christmas in the Community’ appeal.
Over the 12 months, we provided over 55,000 meaningful engagements for young people at the Youth Zone and across the borough which research has shown has a range of benefits for young people such as increasing confidence, reducing isolation, improving social skills and approving attainment at school, work or college. All these positive impacts contribute towards the social value the Youth Zone has for the community which is currently rated at 2.17 – or, in other words, for every £1 invested in the charity, we return a positive impact of £2.17 for the community.
The young people are very lucky to have so many people in the community investing in their future, especially in these difficult times and therefore I would like to thank you once again for your support – we could not do it without you. Thank you.
Wishing you a healthy and happy year.
Anthony