Outreach at the Olive Academy (Oct 2023)
We’d like to share with you the success of one of the projects the VVU has recently supported with funding. The Olive Academy in Thurrock offers alternative education provision for young people who have been excluded from secondary school. Schools can refer into the Academy. This is the only provision of its type in Thurrock […]
Young care leavers supported by community grant
We wanted to share the success of one of the projects we helped fund with the 2022 / 23 community grant. Open Door, based in Grays, received a £20,000 grant, with matched funding of £8,516, to assist young people who are leaving care to establish a safe and happy life in a different world to […]
Street football in Purfleet
What better way to spend a sunny Thursday afternoon than to see one of the projects we help fund in action? And so we headed to Purfleet Primary School to see the street football after-school club. This after-school club, organised by Riverview Charitable Trust, runs from 4pm to 5pm for eight- to eleven-year-olds, and then […]
A&E project supports nearly 200 young people (May 2023)
For the past four years the VVU has helped fund youth workers working in Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital (BTUH) Accident and Emergency Department. Since May 2019, youth workers have been based in the A&E department at BTUH with the hope that when a young person is admitted to A&E the youth workers can offer […]
Bringing light to Koala Park (March 2023)
In the 2021 / 2022 VVU Youth Voices Listening Project, young people were asked questions on safety and where they feel safe in the community. Seventy young people in Thurrock participated in the project and identified areas that they felt unsafe in. One of these areas was Koala Park in Tilbury. Young people said that […]
The success of detached youth work (June 2022)
We are consistently told by young people across Essex they want safe activities to participate in and safe places to meet, alongside adults they can talk to and trust. For the past 18 months we’ve worked with Essex Council of Voluntary Youth Services (ECVYS) and Active Essex to fund detached youth workers in areas of […]
