A Report on the Work of Café Indie
We may have been a little quiet on here, but that’s in part because we’ve been busy doing the below.
Every so often we write up the work we’ve done – because it really is much more than a Café – so we wanted to share it with yourselves. Please do take a read, and, take some pride too – you helped achieve all this and each success belongs to you, cause you’re a part of us…
The Café has continued delivering high quality interventions to large numbers of young people, providing work experience, training and youth work support that would otherwise not be available, through the delivery of social, cultural and leisure activity. Furthermore, the Café further develops our community through the offer of time, space and support to community groups and development advice for new ideas.
We would like to advise some of the outcomes that have been achieved through this work:
Young People have improved chances in life.
In the last year we worked with 72 young volunteers (aged 16-25), providing a structured programme of work experience, training and youth work support.
A significant proportion of volunteers have high additional needs and we continue to prioritise those young people who have some form of disadvantage. Increasingly our volunteers are drawn from the immediate area, one of the most deprived wards in the area. The Café tries to improve perceptions of young people and of what they can achieve when provided with opportunity and support. All our volunteers have reported an improvement in their employability and well-being as a direct result of the project.
We have greatly developed our relationships with key agencies and are now working closely with Education and the Police’s Early Intervention Team to reach children and young people before negative behaviour is entrenched. We work with the Job Centre, Children Leaving Care, Young Offenders and various other employability deliverers, ensuring that there are strong pathways into the project and progression routes from it. As a result, young people are more likely to hear of positive opportunities and get access to the support they need.
As a result of this program, young people have improved chances in life, are more likely to find work and sustain employment. Young people learn transferrable skills and their confidence is dramatically improved. Young people have stronger support networks and feel part of a community. With support services shrinking and the threshold for accessing support getting higher, the Café serves as an early identifier of need and acts as an advocate ensuring more young people get the help they need.
We have, in addition, launched a highly successful drop-in project for children aged 13-18 which delivers youth work and advocacy to over 80 beneficiaries, many of whom are at risk of Criminal or Sexual Exploitation. We work in close partnership with statutory services to deliver early interventions and transform lives and have established ourselves as exceptional at engagement. We are gathering and sharing information that would otherwise be missed. We have also developed a music project to further engage and offer opportunity to young people.
You may have felt the impact of this project. We know that when it first started it became much bigger (and harder to control) than we’d expected. Many of these young people were not ready to access the Café in the manner intended. As such, we’ve made tweaks to the program, altering the times, amending staffing levels and we think we’ve struck the right balance – between delivering this necessary piece of work and maintaining the environment that our lovely customers hold so dear. So – if you were put off at any point, please do try again – the development in these kids in remarkable.
Improved leisure, social and cultural opportunities
We delivered a cultural program of events, that reached audiences of over 4000 people. We have held evenings of theatre, comedy, spoken word, live music, science talks, workshops and art exhibitions. We have brought national and international touring acts to Scunthorpe, at a time when live music venues are closing around the country. We have not only improved leisure, cultural and social activities for the local community, but we draw in visitors to the town.
We have developed a space dedicated to local musicians, offering tuition and supported rehearsal, recording and performance via our trained Music Worker. This has helped foster a network of young creative people and increased cultural opportunities. We have established a network of organisations across the region, broadening horizons and the opportunities for young people. We are supporting 30 young people around music and are able to work with all abilities. For example, one young man in the Care system and excluded from school comes daily to play the piano and access our youth workers.
The Café hosted over 150 community events in the last year including (but not limited to) support groups on Mental Health, LGBT, Financial Inclusion, Inter-generational activity, Breastfeeding and Medical Issues. These events have been attended by over 3000 unique visitors, accessing support that they may otherwise not have been able to. Local people have improved access to support networks that can benefit them. There is an improved sense of resilience within the community created by the Café. People feel more supported to develop new projects and events, and motivated to address issues in their area.
The Café is the only place that many isolated people go, it is a home for vulnerable groups. Our impact is not simply limited to the individuals we work with. It is a safe place, a White Ribbon venue that hosts LGBT, Mental Health, Female Only support groups and links people to wider communities.
OUR CAPABILITY
This year has also seen the Café raise its profile on a national level – featuring in a series of short documentaries on Newsnight, a short Channel 4 documentary about skills shortages in Britain, a podcast on Community Cafes, developing our work with the nationwide Music Venue Trust and being featured in a national Newspaper.
In addition, we have invested in the staffing capacity of the business side of the project. Applying more focus on the Café business side through the new roles has enabled other existing positions to deliver more on the social side, and more efficiently. For example, Youth Workers are now free to deliver Youth Work, not staff the Cafe. This enables them to work with greater numbers, deliver a higher standard with less time constraints. This has seen an improvement in outcomes, evidenced by the recorded experiences of our volunteers.
In Summary
Café Indie continues to be an innovator – a social project thriving on a failing High Street – bringing culture, community and opportunity whilst delivering an excellent and necessary service to disadvantaged young people. Funding has been critical in the increased capacity and improved delivery of Café Indie, enabling it to deliver more, to a higher standard and make significant progress towards our ultimate aim of a financially independent organisation that delivers ongoing, high social impact. The Café is a critical and valued resource in Scunthorpe – a home for the disadvantaged, a springboard for community activity and a vital cog in the local support systems.
Young People have improved chances in life.
In the last year we worked with 72 young volunteers (aged 16-25), providing a structured programme of work experience, training and youth work support.
A significant proportion of volunteers have high additional needs and we continue to prioritise those young people who have some form of disadvantage. Increasingly our volunteers are drawn from the immediate area, one of the most deprived wards in the area. The Café tries to improve perceptions of young people and of what they can achieve when provided with opportunity and support. All our volunteers have reported an improvement in their employability and well-being as a direct result of the project.
We have greatly developed our relationships with key agencies and are now working closely with Education and the Police’s Early Intervention Team to reach children and young people before negative behaviour is entrenched. We work with the Job Centre, Children Leaving Care, Young Offenders and various other employability deliverers, ensuring that there are strong pathways into the project and progression routes from it. As a result, young people are more likely to hear of positive opportunities and get access to the support they need.
As a result of this program, young people have improved chances in life, are more likely to find work and sustain employment. Young people learn transferrable skills and their confidence is dramatically improved. Young people have stronger support networks and feel part of a community. With support services shrinking and the threshold for accessing support getting higher, the Café serves as an early identifier of need and acts as an advocate ensuring more young people get the help they need.
We have, in addition, launched a highly successful drop-in project for children aged 13-18 which delivers youth work and advocacy to over 80 beneficiaries, many of whom are at risk of Criminal or Sexual Exploitation. We work in close partnership with statutory services to deliver early interventions and transform lives and have established ourselves as exceptional at engagement. We are gathering and sharing information that would otherwise be missed. We have also developed a music project to further engage and offer opportunity to young people.
You may have felt the impact of this project. We know that when it first started it became much bigger (and harder to control) than we’d expected. Many of these young people were not ready to access the Café in the manner intended. As such, we’ve made tweaks to the program, altering the times, amending staffing levels and we think we’ve struck the right balance – between delivering this necessary piece of work and maintaining the environment that our lovely customers hold so dear. So – if you were put off at any point, please do try again – the development in these kids in remarkable.
Improved leisure, social and cultural opportunities
We delivered a cultural program of events, that reached audiences of over 4000 people. We have held evenings of theatre, comedy, spoken word, live music, science talks, workshops and art exhibitions. We have brought national and international touring acts to Scunthorpe, at a time when live music venues are closing around the country. We have not only improved leisure, cultural and social activities for the local community, but we draw in visitors to the town.
We have developed a space dedicated to local musicians, offering tuition and supported rehearsal, recording and performance via our trained Music Worker. This has helped foster a network of young creative people and increased cultural opportunities. We have established a network of organisations across the region, broadening horizons and the opportunities for young people. We are supporting 30 young people around music and are able to work with all abilities. For example, one young man in the Care system and excluded from school comes daily to play the piano and access our youth workers.
The Café hosted over 150 community events in the last year including (but not limited to) support groups on Mental Health, LGBT, Financial Inclusion, Inter-generational activity, Breastfeeding and Medical Issues. These events have been attended by over 3000 unique visitors, accessing support that they may otherwise not have been able to. Local people have improved access to support networks that can benefit them. There is an improved sense of resilience within the community created by the Café. People feel more supported to develop new projects and events, and motivated to address issues in their area.
The Café is the only place that many isolated people go, it is a home for vulnerable groups. Our impact is not simply limited to the individuals we work with. It is a safe place, a White Ribbon venue that hosts LGBT, Mental Health, Female Only support groups and links people to wider communities.
OUR CAPABILITY
This year has also seen the Café raise its profile on a national level – featuring in a series of short documentaries on Newsnight, a short Channel 4 documentary about skills shortages in Britain, a podcast on Community Cafes, developing our work with the nationwide Music Venue Trust and being featured in a national Newspaper.
In addition, we have invested in the staffing capacity of the business side of the project. Applying more focus on the Café business side through the new roles has enabled other existing positions to deliver more on the social side, and more efficiently. For example, Youth Workers are now free to deliver Youth Work, not staff the Cafe. This enables them to work with greater numbers, deliver a higher standard with less time constraints. This has seen an improvement in outcomes, evidenced by the recorded experiences of our volunteers.
In Summary
Café Indie continues to be an innovator – a social project thriving on a failing High Street – bringing culture, community and opportunity whilst delivering an excellent and necessary service to disadvantaged young people. Funding has been critical in the increased capacity and improved delivery of Café Indie, enabling it to deliver more, to a higher standard and make significant progress towards our ultimate aim of a financially independent organisation that delivers ongoing, high social impact. The Café is a critical and valued resource in Scunthorpe – a home for the disadvantaged, a springboard for community activity and a vital cog in the local support systems.