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On 15th March, Fresh Futures launched their new, modern website: www.freshfutures.org.uk

The website was a much needed modernisation to the old site, and allows Fresh Futures to not only reach out to supporters and volunteers, but also to act as a platform for potential service users to access important information that can really make a difference!

Our top 3 favourite things about the website are:

1. The Our People page – where you can get to know our Trustees, Leadership Team and Managers, viewing their hobbies, and – the best bit… their old baby pictures

2. Our Superhero images – that show children as we see them… SUPER!

3. Our Volunteer With Us page, where you can find out about the MANY MANY ways that you can get involved with Fresh Futures and support a GREAT cause!

Fresh Futures would like to take this opportunity to thank supporters Martin Port, from Big Change, and Daniel Todd from Proactive Code, whose kindness and generosity has enabled the charity to create the new site.

We would like to send an extended thank you to Mark Crow and the rest of the team at Proactive Code, who worked with us almost every day over the last four months, to get the website completed over a short period of time and to an excellent standard.

Martin Port, from Big Change, left this message for the Fresh Futures team.

Over the past 6 months, Fresh Futures has been working with employees, volunteers and Trustees to agree the upcoming 3-year strategy that will cover the charity’s 50th year anniversary. This includes work on the charity’s mission, vision and core values.

The charity was established in 1974 by Brian Jackson, and since then has grown from strength to strength, broadening its reach to children and families across South and West Yorkshire year upon year, continuing the legacy that Brian created, to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.

Over the last few years, and certainly since the start of the pandemic, the required scope of services and levels of people in need of support have increased significantly.

Whilst children and young people will forever be at the heart of everything that the charity does, we also recognise the importance of supporting families, to in turn give better support to the children. The need to provide more care for the mental health and wellbeing of children and parents has been highlighted, as has the need to provide opportunities for parents to enhance their employability skills.

Furthermore, the need to build stronger family relationships and support new family dynamics has remained critical over the last few years. Finally, our experience working with students in our alternative provision colleges has only further emphasised the huge positive impact that this has on young adults. We are therefore keen to continue expanding our college provisions, to support students into adulthood, providing them with key skills, qualifications, confidence and a greater opportunity to succeed in life.

The upcoming 3-year strategy takes all of these factors into consideration, whilst also introducing some exiting logistical plans.

At the core of the strategy, sits the child. Children and Young People are at the heart of everything that Fresh Futures does, and every service that Fresh Futures offers will link back to the child.

The four CORE STRANDS of the charity’s strategy, cover the following themes:

• Education
• Health and Wellbeing
• Employment & Skills
• Relationships

All of YCC’s services will seek to encompass these themes.

We look forward to working further on our strategy, and will communicate our final strategy and plans to all of our stakeholders, in the near future.

#WeAreYCC

Please support Fresh Futures by placing your vote HERE

Dear Fresh Futures employees and volunteers,

This well-deserved award recognises the immense efforts of Fresh Futures employees and volunteers throughout the course of the pandemic.

The pandemic affected every one of us on a personal level, yet every single Fresh Futures employee and volunteer shone during this time, going above and beyond your roles to support those in difficult situations.

This award is a great way to recognise and celebrate what YOU achieved, and the differences your efforts made, since 2019. Congratulations to each of you!

The winner of this award will be announced on 06^th May, and will be decided by an online public vote, which closes on 31^st March.

Whether we win the award with the most votes, or not, this is an incredible celebration of everyone’s individual and team efforts. Acknowledging the sleepless nights, the extra hours and the selflessness that each of you showed to others whilst supporting Fresh Futures.

Of course, it would be a great honour to win the award, and would have a huge positive impact upon the charity and the awareness of our services. To that end, we would like to ask each of your to support this nomination, by placing your vote for Fresh Futures in the Yorkshire Choice Awards, Covid Hero category. If we all come together to collect votes, we will have a strong chance to win!

Here’s a glimpse of some of the things that we did to deserve this nomination…

Please don’t forget to vote, and SHARE, SHARE, SHARE this news with your friends, family and colleagues.

At the end of 2021, we shared with you our 2021 in numbers paper – a document that illustrated the incredible reach that Fresh Futures had over the last 12 months (you can view this by clicking HERE or scrolling down)

But that’s not everything that we did. As we reflect on the incredible year that the charity had in 2021, and look towards a prosperous 2022, we would love to share with you some more great things that the charity achieved in 2021 – thanks to our massively dedicated team of over 100 employees, and wonderful volunteers!

• In 2021, Fresh Futures successfully launched several campaigns for local communities, including the Winter Warmer coat collection for refugees, the transformation of the Brian Jackson House outdoor public area, and the Gift Appeal for all of our service users.
• Looking at Fresh Futures as an employer, Fresh Futures implemented a 24/7 employee assistance programme for all staff, free of charge, and rolled out the Role and Reward scheme which saw the majority of staff receiving a pay increase suited to their roles.
• Furthermore, YCC established an Employee Forum to help keep employee satisfaction a top priority, furlough was removed with all staff returning to the office, and we proudly welcomed lots of new staff to each of the ever-growing teams. This include new members of the Leadership Team, and a new Fresh Futures Chair.
• Publicly, YCC’s domestic abuse department appeared on BBC Look North, we had a very special visit from the Major of West Yorkshire during our Safety Rangers event, and we dramatically increased our presence on social media (#WeAreYCC!).
• Following the two lockdowns, Fresh Futures refurbished the community café space in Brian Jackson House and the charity, Healthy Hearts opened ‘Full Circle Café’ which now hosts lots of community events.
• The Fresh Futures charity shop in Heckmondwike reopened to the public, YCC’s services reintroduced face-to-face groups and in-house services, and the Brian Jackson Colleges overcame all Covid-19 related hurdles to achieve strong results for the college pupils.
• Finally, the charity had its RESPECT accreditation renewed, secured further funding to continue many services for at least another 12 months, introduced Recognise, Reflect, Change; a new accredited intervention programme by DAPP, and welcomed on board dozens of awesome volunteers to support more events and reach more local people in need.

WOW!