Virtual Hub (360G-CR-4908569)

COVID19 -We are requesting funding to develop a ?Virtual Support Hub? for young people who are participants on the Sports Horizon programme (funded by Comic Relief) and the AIMS mentoring project which is also based in the Young Person?s Hub. The AIMS project works with care leavers, young parents and in partnership with the Violence Reduction Partnership. Young people supported by Sports Horizons have benefited from being able to access the physical ?Young Person?s Hub? where support is available all in one place ? access to mentors, skills courses, free wifi, breakfast clubs, specialist agency surgeries and enrichment activities. We want to replicate the benefits of the physical hub into a Virtual Hub: The Virtual Hub will offer: - Online chat with a mentor who will be available in the virtual Hub at set times during the day for example 2-4- for any ad hoc support/conversation - via online chat, any young person can access this. - A menu of group activities each week that people can engage with including enrichment activities like mindfulness and group workshops on topics like CV writing. - Online chat with specialist agency who are offering drop in support at a certain time -Eg. mental health and substance misuse agencies who usually offer this support at the Hub. - One-to one video conversations with their mentor. - Delivery of AIMS Skills programmes which young people will be able to complete virtually. - Skills development videos including meals to cook. - Access to up to date information and resources - The opportunity to interact with other young people via a message board, competitions, etc. Young People who are already disadvantaged are facing a difficult immediate future. The economic effects of the Coronavirus are going to cause significant unemployment and a depressed jobs market. This means that those who are currently furthest from employment are going to face even tougher barriers. Having a Virtual Hub will increase the amount and quality of support we can provide while social distancing is in place; boost mental health and wellbeing for young people, reduce isolation and loneliness and ensure that young people do not miss out on opportunities to develop their skills and engage with life-changing support during this crisis. We anticipate that even as lockdown measures are lifted, it will be a significant amount of time before the young people we are working with can engage with a pre-covid-19 level of structure and support in their lives. This Hub will help ensure that they do not face further disadvantage due to this crisis. We have spoken to Olly Dawson, our Partnership manager at Comic Relief about this need and he has been positive about the way it would help us to support the young people we are working with. We have been scoping out how a Hub could work with a couple of digital partners we already work with and have just secured funding for a Virtual Hub for our homeless services in Wales. We will use funding from Comic Relief to create a bespoke Hub (Using our Wales Hub as a template ? reducing cost) for young people who we support across Liverpool City Region; develop content, and digitilise some of our training skills programmes. We will also use for staff training, hosting and maintenance costs of the Hub for the first 6 months. Long-term, having an online Hub will also help us to reach groups who cannot access face to face support due to living in rural areas, their employment, family commitments, caring responsibilities or health situation. This will extend the reach of the support that we can provide ? giving this funding a significant legacy.