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Community PRIDE
support for a group of young people
deemed to be at particular risk of social
exclusion.
“While the core programmes are similar,
there are distinct differences between
Newark & Rushcliffe,” she added.
“Newark is currently concentrating on
a younger cohort of young people 8-11
years, linked primarily to the County
Council’s ‘Closing the Gap’ pilot project.
“These young people have been referred
to the project because they need some
additional educational support in literacy
or numeracy, are socially excluded
from their peer group at school or are
vulnerable in the community, mixing with
inappropriate peer groups.”
Tracey is proud to say that the project
offers support by building the self-
esteem and confidence of participants.
They make sure that young people are
engaged in community-based activities,
providing them with a tutor to help them
educationally, while helping them build
relationships with others their age
Another aspect of the Newark project,
this time in partnership with Newark
& Sherwood District Council and
Nottinghamshire County CouncilYouth
Justice &Targeted Support teams, is
geared toward helping to further integrate
a group of girls from the area’s settled
traveller community.
Initially, this will involve running a six-
week programme of activities at the local
community centre, with the intention of
expanding the group after Christmas and
looking at a project that allows the girls
to explore their heritage and lifestyles
through media.
“This project has been challenging to
establish as it is difficult to build trusting
relationships quickly, without the help of
other service providers that have already
spent years engaging them,” said Francis.
“It’s an area where service providers –
the likes of social services and the local
police, have worked with these groups
before, but it’s up to us to bring it all
together and help them truly become part
of the community.”
While these exciting new developments
have been taking place, Positive Futures
in Rushcliffe has concentrated on helping
to support young people through their
transition from primary school into
secondary school education.
“Our work tracks young people through
their education to help them achieve their
full potential,” said Francis.
“This will help them academically but
also provide specific skill sets to help
them become more employable.
“By understanding the needs of Cotgrave
businesses, we’re well placed to help
young people by providing them with the
necessary skills and training to ensure
that they are prepared in a manner that’s
relevant to the local job market.”
The project has developed a
READY4WORK club, which is open to
all community members, and provides for
supporting with job searches, writing of
CVs and interview techniques.
Each project has a commitment to
support with the basic numeracy &
literacy requirements of the national
curriculum, but more importantly they
provide a community hub of activities,
events and sports programmes.
“We aim to keep young people engaged
at evenings, weekends and during school
holidays, as well as offering an alternative
provision of education,” saidTracey.
“Our schemes take children out of the
classroom while still teaching them
core skills.
“We want the young people we work with
to learn around their interests.
“If a child loves cricket, for example,
we’ll help them develop their literacy
and reading skills through cricketing
material.”
Another of the project’s major successes
has come in the form of ‘community
pride’ events, in which young people
identify projects in their local area to
make the community a better place to live
and play.
“The community pride events give young
people a sense of place and pride within
their local community,” saidTracey.
“It also demonstrates to residents that
young people take pride in the area that
they live.We want to give them a sense
of citizenship and then providing them
with an outlet to apply it.”
Positive Futures has been developed
through the charitable arm of the Trent
Bridge Community Trust. It helps
our business engage with and leave a
positive legacy to the communities we
serve, and continues to demonstrate
that legacy is not just about cricket.