“Youth work has changed my life; now I hope to inspire others.” My Dad died when I was two years old. When I was 11, my Auntie committed suicide and my Mum began to drink, and rapidly became an alcoholic. As a result I had to look after myself from a young age. We had weeks […]
A bit of sad news…
After 8 years of working with young people on and around the Patmore Estate, our Development and SW London Director Kerry Astin, is leaving e:merge and the work of FAST. Kerry has done an amazing job founding FAST, leading the day to day work, overseeing the team and contributing her leadership abilities to e:merge more widely. She will […]
Our 2017 Successes
WE ASKED THE E:MERGE STAFF WHAT THEIR FAVOURITE SUCCESSES OF 2017 WERE… “This year we had a month of sessions where the young people took over. They planned and delivered creative sessions on issues of their choice; bullying, challenging yourself and knowing your rights. It was great fun and great to see the leadership and […]
Longfield Drive Clean Up
After the summer program we returned back to Longfield Drive MUGA to find it covered in broken glass, litter and bits of household rubbish. Rather than waiting for the council or community landlord to clean it up the young people wanted to take matters into their own hands! We returned the following week with bin […]
Never Mind the Age Gap
This half term we have had young people from Bradford Academy partner with a community project for the elderly to help break down generational boundaries. The pupils in year 8, spent time baking, visiting the project helping serve dinners and play bowls with elderly people from their community. This was a fantastic afternoon of building […]
Building Foundations
After an eventful summer holidays, our young people are now back at school and settling in smoothly. We have now returned to our programme of drop ins and what we call the learning hub. This is where our young people explore career ideas and research topics that they are interested in. A few of them […]
What’s going on this summer…
Summer is here and we are getting excited for all we have planned!! There is so much going on! London kicks off with a big summer BBQ and giant water fight, while Bradford begins with a week of Sanctuary. London is then getting creative and active and Bradford sporty and geeky. Finally it all ends […]
Tackling knife crime
There has been a worrying increase in knife crime in South West London recently. Over the past few months we have seen several incidents shake the communities that we live and work in. This month within a period of 16 days 11 Londoners were stabbed to death and official statistics released in April showed a 20% increase in the rate of knife attacks in the capital. […]