Category: Business Updates

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!

Today we are looking back at all of the amazing things Fresh Futures has achieved this year.

This highlights just some of the incredible ways we have helped the local communities in 2021 across our departments.

We are incredibly grateful for all of the support we have received from our followers, making what we do possible, and we are ready to take on 2022!