Fresh Futures has recently been re-awarded the Quality for Health and Wellbeing award – the accreditation for groups and organisations delivering health and wellbeing services.
The accreditation confirms that Fresh Futures has attained the highest service delivery standards possible and continuously seeks opportunities for service improvement.
It was a gruelling application process, with an evidence-based application stage, plus an interview stage, including formal conversations with 18 members of Fresh Futures – from staff and trustees to service users and volunteers.
Samantha Latchayya, Leadership Team Coordinator, told us, “It was a rigorous process, so we were extremely pleased to hear that our application was successful. We are really proud to be able to carry the Quality 4 Health and Wellbeing (Level 2) logo for a further two years, and it goes to show that our hard work to implement Health and Wellbeing procedures for staff, volunteers and service users has really paid off!”
Within the report, Fresh Futures was particularly commended for:
The use of forums (sustainability, safety, and employee) to ensure needs are identified and views are heard.
A robust HR system
An excellent position for the charity to deliver on local and national health campaigns and to meet local and national needs and priorities
Fresh Futures clear vision to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.
Successfully operating within a range of formal and informal partnerships which have a significant impact upon service user outcomes (including third sector groups, health and social care, and education provisions).
On behalf of YCC, we would like to send a big thank you to everyone who participated in the application process, from collating evidence and responses, to participating in the live interviews.
And of course, a big congratulations to everyone who was involved in the application process.
To help Fresh Futures achieve its 2023 20-point sustainability action plan, the charity has established a Sustainability Forum made up of Fresh Futures employees, volunteers, tenants, governors and service users. The forum will meet virtually three times per year to ensure the charity is on target to achieve the action plan, and to work together to deliver the best possible outcomes.
Currently, the forum is made up of the following individuals:
Christine Rhodes (Fresh Futures Employee – Community Connections)
Gill Goodswen (Fresh Futures Trustee & College Governor)
Throughout the month of March, our Building’s Manager Emma Cavanagh was busy coordinating a huge refurbishment of the first floor of Brian Jackson House.
The work, which involved a lot of rewiring, painting and new flooring took place in just three weeks and has transformed the space from what was an outdated working area (last refurbished over 2 decades ago!) to a more connected and modern space.
The project did not go without it’s hurdles, and it was particularly challenging in the first week when the lift broke down! Not great timing as all of the organisation’s huge wooden desks needed to travel down two flights of stairs to be removed from the building! But despite everything, the project was completed and everyone is delighted with the results.
The new, modernised space has seen brand new hot-desks with a new layout in bright and airy rooms. We also now have meeting rooms, break-out rooms and quiet spaces for different working styles, plus an amazing service delivery space where service users can take part in group sessions and 121 sessions.
What’s more, for the first time, staff at Brian Jackson House will soon have access to their own private staff room, allowing for downtime during the working day, which is absolutely essential for our teams who often work in pressurised and challenging situations and deserve a space just for them, where they can relax and reenergise.
Emma wasn’t working alone, and she would like to send out a massive thank you to everyone who supported the project:
“Thank you to everyone on the building’s team for all your help with the project at Brian Jackson House. It’s been a tough couple of weeks and if things could go wrong they have!! However the team really pulled together. There has been blood, sweat & tears!”
I would like to thank Katie for all the cleaning she has done in the project rooms, she has been a superstar and made these rooms look and smell amazing. It wasn’t an easy job with all the dust, wires and random bits everywhere.
I would also like to say thank you to Rebecca, Daniella & Janine for being amazing helping with the moving of all desks, being an absolute super team when the lift broke down and for being there when I’ve had a meltdown!!
Thank you to Tony & James for all the shifting, lifting, painting and moving of everything and anything.
Last but not least I would like to send a special thank you to our volunteer Gareth who has donated so much of his time these past few weeks. He has been brilliant and worked so hard. We really couldn’t have done it without him!”
But of course we all also want to say a big thank you to Emma, who has given her everything to complete this project on time and to a high standard. This project will have a fantastic impact on staff and service users alike, who will all benefit from this new and improved space. We are sure that you will all agree when checking out the photos, just how incredible these new changes are.
Check out the before, during and after photos of the new main hot desk office to see the huge difference that has been made!
BEFORE
BEFORE
DURING
DURING
AFTER
AFTER
As a large charity operating across 5 buildings, we always have refurbishment and renovation projects lined up. If you or an organisation you work with would like to get involved in any volunteer or pro-bono work with Fresh Futures relating to decorating or any other building or gardening work, please email [email protected] or call 01484 519988.
It’s unbelievable to think that it was only 7 months ago that we set out on our mission to become more sustainable – in such a small space of time we are proud to have achieved so much!!
Since the Sustainability pledges were made in August 2022, our charity has taken huge strides in our sustainability initiatives. We have dramatically reduced the amount of paper and ink that is used, fully enhanced our recycling procedures, adapted lighting across all of our buildings, created a sustainability forum, set up the cycle to work scheme, started shopping locally, created a sustainability eBook for EVERYONE to access, AND MUCH MORE!!
We’ve been keeping you up to date along the way, ensuring full transparency in everything we do. And since our last newsletter in January, we have done EVEN MORE! Here’s a glimpse…
1. Glass recycling (Phase 1): As we aren’t able to recycle glass using our recycling bins just yet, we have set up a system at Brian Jackson House to bring in glass to reception, who have arranged for them to be taken to a nearby bottle bank – avoiding them unnecessarily going to landfill. 2. International Book Swap Day: We took part in book swap day by promoting the benefits of book sharing rather than buying new. Plenty of staff and tenants brought in books and took home different ones, with lots of left-over books from the event going straight to our charity shop and a permanent book swap shelf now in place. 3. Recycling: Our recycling initiatives have been so successful that we have had to invest in bigger recycling bins! This is fantastic to see, and we’ve also done a lot of work on learning about what can and cannot be out into the recycling bin. 4. Local engagement: We’ve been spreading our learnings far and wide through our social media & website, to help everyone understand the massive benefits (health, financial, wellbeing….) of taking sustainable actions. With the cost-of-living crisis affecting all of us right now, one small sustainable step can go a very long way! 5. Save water! We’re in the process of assessing the water quality at all of our sites, so that we can start to remove some of the water coolers (made up of lots of plastic) and move towards using tap water and refillable bottles.
YCC’s Book Swap
YCC’s Sustainability Pledge
Recycling at YCC
What’s next? We’ve got big plans and a big strategy so here’s what you can expect to see us doing over the next few weeks: 1. Soft plastic recycling – frustratingly we can’t put this into our recycling bins so we will be setting up a separate recycling process to make sure our soft plastics don’t go to landfill. 2. Plant swap! It’s Earth Day on 22nd April and we want to mark it by doing lots and lots of gardening, on our sites and at home! Keep an eye on our socials for updates coming soon! 3. Save more water! We’ll be completing our research on our water quality and making some small changes around the buildings.
A huge thank you to everyone who has made our progress possible, from volunteers transforming our outdoor space, to the sustainability forum engaging in important topics, employees embracing small changes such as reduced printing and bigger recycling. If you would like to participate in the Sustainability Forum, or get involved in any way, we would be delighted to hear from you – just get in touch!
In 2021 Fresh Futures were awarded a grant of £9,750 from the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation to support the Nurture with Nutrition Project at our alternative education provisions in Huddersfield and Heckmondwike.
This funding has meant that we have been able to provide up to 50 young people aged 13-16 with nutritious breakfasts, helping them to engage with others, keep their brains active and setting them up for a day of learning. This has also been a good opportunity to teach young people how to look after their physical health, the importance of nutrition, and how to prepare their own breakfasts.
The Sodexo team meeting staff from Brian Jackson College
The partnership with the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation team has enabled us to work together to find solutions to support the young people that access our services. The Sodexo team have also generously volunteered their time at our colleges, spending time with the students and providing advice about employment opportunities in the catering industry. These volunteer activities led to a student at our Huddersfield college being offered a place on an apprenticeship programme.
The partnership has grown from strength to strength, with Sodexo CEO Sean Haley pledging to provide new kitchen facilities which will allow the students to attain their GCSE Food & Nutrition qualifications and provide even more support reaching higher education or employment.
To see a video showcasing Sodexo’s partnership with Fresh Futures and the amazing work they have done CLICK HERE.
For a full list of YCC’s corporate partners, or to find out how you can support the charity by becoming a corporate partner click here or email [email protected].
We are excited to announce that Fresh Futures has been able to share the good news with one of our Unity Lottery players that he won the £25,000 jackpot, not once, but TWICE over just a few months!
With the odds of winning a prize being 1 in 63, Unity has some of the best odds of all society lotteries. This was the case for our first lucky winner who, just two weeks after signing up, was called by Sara Eltman, Head of Income and Partnerships at Fresh Futures to let him know he had won the jackpot!
We caught up with him and he said “I was amazed to win the Jackpot on my second draw. It made my daughter’s Christmas more magical than I could have imagined. But to win a second jackpot is the most amazing part of it. This lottery is for an amazing cause, and wins do happen. This will help me out with clearing my debts and getting through this hard time.”
Unity’s fundraising lottery platform is designed to give good causes the chance to raise money through their own weekly lottery and for every person that joins up, at least 50p of every £1 spent goes towards their chosen cause.
Here are some amazing reasons to play:
Tickets are only £1
You can buy a gift voucher for a loved one to join up
Unique lottery numbers mean only one person can win the jackpot
Individual odds of winning a prize are better than winning the National Lottery
In 2021 the £25,000 jackpot was won 8 times
Unity has seen the jackpot won twice in two weeks, it’s all in the luck of the draw!
To be in for a chance of winning the Fresh Futures lottery or to buy a gift voucher for a loved one to join up click here https://buff.ly/38R3mCz
It’s a new year and we are ready for new challenges that running a large charity furniture store brings each day. We are very fortunate to receive good quality items to sell from our donors and we are grateful to all our loyal customers for the purchases they make, which help to support Fresh Futures with unrestricted funds which in turn assists all the good work that’s done for children, families, and the wider community.
All donated items are checked to ensure they reach quality and safety standards, from sofas and beds to fridge/freezers and kettles. With the current cost of living increases, we believe that charity shops like ours will become even more important to people to help them get what they need and want.
This January, environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy is launching ‘Buy Nothing New Month’. We will be actively supporting this via our social media page Facebook Pass It On YCC – why not take a look and follow us?
Throughout January, Keep Britain Tidy will be sharing a host of tips and tricks on not buying new items and making the most of what you already have. They will be calling on the public to rethink what they want versus what they need, reconsidering if they can repair versus replace and think about whether they can rent, borrow or, of course, buy second-hand rather than new.
During February the Charity Retail Association, of which Fresh Futures are a member, are highlighting shops like ours with their campaign #CharityShopHome, celebrating the best in furniture and homewares found in charity shops and online charity retail. The campaign will run from 6th – 12th February and posts of members’ stylish room set-ups and expertly curated homewares will be promoted across their social media channels. Fresh Futures have sent in several photos which we hope will be shared far and wide!
Every day is different in Pass It On and we never know what’s in store. Why not call in and see us, one thing’s for certain, you will always receive a warm welcome.
Click here for more information on our Pass It On Shop and how you can support Fresh Futures.
And that’s not all. Can you believe we also packed ALL of the below into 2022, too!
We supported Children’s Mental Health Week, created by Place2Be, through our Thriving Kirklees Team, providing free activity packs and wellbeing guides and more!
We got a BRAND NEW website
We started a gardening group for our service users with Young Onset Dementia
We were FINALISTS for the Covid Hero Award at the Yorkshire Choice Awards
We ran mental health programmes with the Works Better team at Kirklees Council for our Brian Jackson College pupils.
We worked with Our Creative Connection to create a photography exhibition created by our Hopeful Families participants
We trained ALL our Service Managers in an accredited Management Training & development PRogramme
We hosted Safety Rangers for Year-5 pupils from disadvantaged schools – THREE TIMES!
We ‘Walked for YCC‘ taking on TWO walking challenges (Up Castle Hill in Huddersfield and the National 3 Peaks), raising awareness and funds for the charity.
We ran our first ever ALL STAFF team day to develop the charity’s ‘One Team; One Charity’ ethos
We held a huge THANK YOU event for our employees and their families in the summer, plus a festive party at Christmas
We hosted a fashion show at Brian Jackson House to raise important funds for our services
We supported Ukrainian refugees through various projects including a Ukrainian job fayre and Christmas party
We hosted Stay and Play sessions for families through Hopeful Families where children could play whilst their parents and carers received essential support from professional mentors.
We celebrated Eid and Diwali across our sites with our employees and tenants
We presented ‘Speak Volumes – the importance of amplifying children’s voices in domestic abuse perpetrator programmes’ as part of the White Ribbon Campaign with EdShift.
During the January 2023 Sustainability Forum meeting, the representatives agreed the following 20-step action plan which will be rolled out throughout this year, ending with a re-assessment of YCC’s carbon footprint, to determine if our actions have resulted in an improvement of our score.
You can also view the full presentation considered during the forum meeting, in PDF format below.
If you would like to join the forum, attend a one-off meeting, or simply make any sustainable comments and/or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact YCC’s Sustainability Champion, by emailing [email protected].
Do you know the people behind the faces of YCC’s Senior Leadership Team?
We caught up with them to find out exactly what they do for the charity, and how they divide their management of all of the small pieces that make up the big Fresh Futures picture… Oh, and we asked them a few silly questions, too – just for fun!
Mark Farmer – Chief Executive Officer
I came to Fresh Futures in November 2020, just as we went into lockdown – an interesting way to start a new role in a new organisation in a new area!
As Chief Executive, I am responsible to the Board of Trustees for driving the charity forwards with a clear strategic vision, to maximise the impact we have. In practice, this means managing the leadership team and working with them and external partners and funders to develop our services and promote Fresh Futures.
I believe in being open and available, and try to be visible and accessible to all the teams and sites across Fresh Futures. Although the majority of my time on site is at Brian Jackson House, I do enjoy being out and about, particularly if good coffee is on offer 😊
For those of you who don’t me, my background is in senor charity leadership across a range of sectors – hospitality, outdoor education; travel, healthcare, and events – and I try to bring this range of experience to my role to benefit Fresh Futures.
What’s your signature dish that you cook at home?Paella on a Spanish paella ring in the garden with a few beers.
If you won an all-expenses paid trip around the world, where would you visit?I’d take a train coast to coast across Canada then head to New Zealand and walk Te Araroa (google it!!)
What does your perfect weekend look like?In the fells in clear weather soaking up the views – ideally of snow-covered mountains
Catherine McKenzie – Head of Children & Family Services
Based at Brian Jackson House, I oversee a highly passionate team in delivering services to support the wellbeing of children and their families. We focus our support on healthy relationships, loneliness & isolation, and health & wellbeing.
Under the Children & Family Services umbrella we have 5 different teams who work towards different objectives and strive to support different members of the family: Thriving Kirklees, Community Connections, Hopeful Families (Employability), Child Contact, and DAPP (Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme).
The main focus and aim of all the support we offer is empowering people, by providing and educating in the skills, tools, and resources required to ensure and encourage the desire to make positive changes, which in turn, improves their lives. In my role, every day is different and every day provides a new challenge, which is why I find my role so enjoyable.
If you could have one superpower what would it be?I would really love to have the ability to turn back time.
If you could go back 10 years and tell yourself something, what would you say? I would remind my younger self that anything is possible, so dream big!
What is your favourite movie of all time?Without a doubt… Dirty Dancing!
Jacqui Green – Headteacher at Brian Jackson College
I am the Head Teacher of Brian Jackson College which has two sites (Wellington House, Huddersfield & Vision House, Heckmondwike), although I have been working at Fresh Futures since 2013 across various roles.
You can usually find me at either provision working operationally; researching and improving both schools which are forever evolving. I currently lead on the school curriculum which I continue to develop ensuring that it is broad and balanced providing our pupils with the same entitlement for education as they would receive in a mainstream setting.
It’s difficult to explain a typical day within either provision as one day is never the same as the next. Supporting pupils with SEMH has taught me about empathy, patience and an understanding of trauma and how that can impact a young persons life. I’m extremely proud of the work we do and to be part of something that makes a difference in a young persons life.
What’s the most spontaneous thing you have done in your life?When I was 18 years old, on a whim, I decided to give up my job and take a tent with £50 in my pocket; jump on a ferry from hull to Hoek van Holland and go tulip bulb picking.
What does your perfect weekend look like? A perfect weekend would involve; sitting outside a caravan in the sunshine with the sight and sound of the sea whispering against shore.
What’s your signature dish that you cook at home?I love to cook Indian and Pakistani food especially curries. Never from a packet! My signature dish is a Dhansak and involves lentils. Its sweet and full of goodness just like me!
Sara Eltman – Head of Income & Partnerships
My role is a based at Brian Jackson House two to three days a week, with some remote work from home. I joined the team in June 2021 as Head of Income & Partnerships, which was a newly created role for the charity.
The Income & Partnerships team includes our Fundraising & Communications Co-ordinator and Pass It On charity shop employees and volunteers. The goals of our team are to raise awareness of the work of YCC, and ultimately to raise additional funds so the charity can continue to run and develop its services.
Our team manages the charities social media platforms and website content, and shares news and updates on fundraising and activities of the different services across Fresh Futures. The Income & Partnerships team work together with supporters from across our communities, businesses, groups and organisations, and external funders to generate income through a range of income streams.
If you could go back 10 years and tell yourself something, what would you say?I’d tell myself that you only live once, and you should do what makes you happy!
What’s the craziest thing you have ever done?Been crammed in a bus travelling up a narrow track then jumping off the side of a very high mountain in Turkey paragliding.
Tell us about your favourite holiday?My favourite holiday is to the Greek island of Kos to a little place called Kefalos.
Rob Edden – Head of Finance & Support Services
Based at Brian Jackson House, my role is predominantly finance based, although I do also work a lot with the management of the charity’s 4 buildings; Brian Jackson House, Jo Cox House, Vision House and Wellington House.
On the finance side of things, I am responsible for everything to do with budgets. I work with each department to set realistic budgets that meet the needs of the teams, and then ensure that budgets are adhered to and that the charity runs in the most financially efficient way possible. I report to the Finance Committee and the Board of Trustees, who I provide reports for on a monthly basis.
Under the ‘Support Services’ umbrella falls everything to do with property. From the day-to-day running to one-off refurbishment and rental negotiations. This means I have two teams, the finance team, based at BJH, and the front of house team who are based across BJH and JCH.
Tell us about your favourite holiday? Zambia, a working holiday! bit of finance in the day, with Safari, Victoria Falls, white water rafting and being chased by elephant on horse back the rest of the time.
What is your favourite movie of all time?Can’t have one 😊. Highlander – retro fantasy. Blindside – feel good, rooting for underdog, It’s a Wonderful Life, there is no other way to start Christmas and get a bit of perspective on your life.
If you were deserted on an island, what three things would you take with you? Spotify, my golf clubs….my wife 😊
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