We are able to re-open our YGym facilities from Saturday 25th July, we wanted to advise you on how we have prepared so that it is safe and ready for your return. There are also ways in which you can prepare for when you return, so have a read through this bulletin for guidance on…
Dear Friends, During the last few weeks we have witnessed the world rise up in protest against racial inequality, sparked by the murder of George Floyd on 25 May in the United States. For many of us, it has opened old wounds; bringing up feelings of sadness, anger and frustration at the deep racial injustices…
For any teenager, experiencing family breakdown is one of the most challenging life experiences that they could ever face. However, the risk of homelessness for 16-18 year olds leaves them with an even more daunting prospect during the Covid-19 outbreak, as many teenagers are left wondering what will happen and where they will go. Since…
What? The Global Photo Challenge takes place on our Birthday, 6th June 2020, and is part of the World Challenge activities. It’s a chance for you to show off your favourite YMCA merchandise, have fun, challenge friends and see the diversity within the YMCA. Here’s the schedule for the day How? All you need is…
We realise that this is a time of uncertainty for everyone and want to assure you that we have the welfare of service users, staff, volunteers and community members, as a priority at this very challenging time. What follows are the current arrangements for the different areas of our organisation, based on the latest government advice…
YMCA Black Country Group is asking local people to vote for one of its inspiring young people ahead of a prestigious national youth awards ceremony. The local youth charity, which has operates in the Black Country has nominated YMCA young person, Clotilda Tigere as Young Achiever of the Year in Youth Matters Awards 2019. Youth…
Lord-Lieutenant Mr John Crabtree OBE, of the West Midlands, visited YMCA Black Country Group along with Ian Austin MP, to find out more about the Supported Lodgings and Emergency Accommodation Service, YMCA Open Door. Since 2009, YMCA Open door provides housing to young people aged 16-25 in the homes of trained and approved volunteer Hosts,…
Major UK funder says charities across the West Midlands are innovating to meet high levels of social need The Garfield Weston Foundation more than doubles its £5m anniversary fund to over £11m to support over 150 charities after overwhelming demand One of the UK’s largest charitable funders says small community charities are rising to…
This Summer I had the opportunity to attend the Youth Unify leadership camp in Romania. It was at the camp I had the opportunity to meet with other young leaders and delegates from across YMCA in Europe.
After raising money for The Glebe Centre at their family fun day the team at YMCA Greets Green Day Nursery had an opportunity to donate all the items they managed to buy for the people who benefit from the Glebe’s support. Staff and Volunteers at the Glebe Centre ensure that everyone they come into contact…
Kate Hinsley, Support Worker at YMCA’s Badger Court project in Wolverhampton have along with the project itself, have been awarded for their hard work by West Midlands Police in protecting YMCA residents from Child Sexual Exploitation.
YMCA Black Country Group provides supported accommodation in Dudley to assist young people in their journey from homelessness to independent living. Our accommodation is located on Highland Road and works with 16-17 year olds with Children’s Services input, Care Leavers and Young vulnerable people aged up to 24 years.
The outstanding efforts and tireless dedication of volunteers working at a homeless centre run by YMCA Black Country, has been honoured with the UK’s highest award for volunteering. The Glebe Centre in Walsall, which provides vital lifeline services to rough sleepers in the area, as well as support for people with drug and alcohol addictions…
Greets Green Day Care is celebrating 10 years of service this year, and to mark the occasion, they are holding an Anniversary Open Day, which will be chock full of fun things to see and do.
Friday 28th April saw more than 45 Hosts from our Open Door Project attend Walsall Council Chambers to be presented with awards to say thank you for their hard work and dedication to the young people they have taken into their homes. The Mayor of Walsall presented the Hosts with their awards after project workers…
The Glebe Centre, Walsall is an incredible provision for the homeless community and supports people with issues around substance misuse, homelessness, mental health and unemployment. It is run by Jane and a tireless team of volunteers. We caught up with Karen, one of the Glebe’s amazing volunteers!
YMCA Black Country backs new national research that shows apprenticeships boost young people’s career prospects YMCA Black Country Group has spoken out about the positive impacts of apprenticeships as new research is released today that shows four in five young people would recommend them to others and more than three quarters say they have improved…
We are excited to announce that the incredible Francesca Millican-Slater will be giving a writing workshop AND a performance of her 5 star show ‘Stories to Tell in the Middle of the Night’ at our Western Gateway site!
Last week we were delighted to welcome Sunny and Shay of BBC Radio WM to Temple Street. They came to visit the brand new, redeveloped Talent Match Hub, and did their show live from our building! There was an incredible atmosphere as the show was taking place, and Brenda, Sharlie and Phil did a fantastic job…
We are very excited to announce that our Open Door project will be holding a Host Appreciation Evening on Friday 28 April at Walsall Council Chambers. The Open Door project supports vulnerable teenagers by placing them with volunteer host families in the community. Operating across the Black Country, it is the largest Supported Lodgings and Nightstop…
As ever, we are completely bowled over by the generosity of the community around us. We are so grateful for all the donations we receive.
Sunday 22 January is Homeless Sunday. Homeless Sunday is a way for churches to demonstrate solidarity with people experiencing homelessness in the UK, to challenge the conditions that give rise to high levels of homelessness, and to celebrate the work of the churches and others in tackling homelessness at all levels, particularly locally.
Happy New Year! We’re jumping head first into 2017 with our very first fundraiser of the year – and it’s super simple for everyone to join in with. All you need is an empty jar – so don’t throw away your empty cranberry sauce jar once the turkey has run out!
A damning report compiled by Shelter has revealed that there are more than a quarter of a million people in England are homeless. Using data from four sets of official 2016 statistics, Shelter has compiled what they have described as a “conservative” total, adjusting down to account for any overlaps between the groups, and not…
On 24 November, hundreds of Sandwell childcare professionals attended a special presentation evening at WS10 Conference Centre, Wednesbury, to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work and high level of childcare in the borough.
This week, YMCA Black Country were delighted to welcome Celebrity TV presenter Adrian Chiles and the Bishop of Wolverhampton, The Right Revd Clive Gregory, who joined forces to officially open the new Western Gateway building in Carters Green, West Bromwich. The £9.5m YMCA facility is now a commanding presence at the western entrance of West…
The Glebe Centre in Walsall recently celebrated 40 years serving the local community. Monika Plaha from Big Centre TV talked with Steve Clay, Chief Executive of YMCA Black Country Group about their 40 year anniversary. View the video here.
We were delighted to recently receive a visit from Emma Reynolds MP (Labour, Wolverhampton North East) who is also the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Emma visited our schemes at Badger Court, Wolverhampton and at Penderford, to see first-hand the work we do and to meet some of the young people…
YMCA Black Country is today saying a huge ‘Thank you’ to The Empty Can band for their amazing, record breaking, busking in Dudley town centre. A total of £586.14 has been raised, with online donations still coming in!
YMCA, the world’s oldest and largest youth charity, is warning of the ‘long-term consequences’ of proposed Housing Benefit changes announced in today’s Queen’s Speech.
Some councils are failing to support homeless young people in need according to new research released last week.
YMCA Black Country Group held another successful Sleep Easy over the weekend (Friday 6th March) with more than 40 local people spending the night sleeping rough at the University of Wolverhampton, to raise money for homeless young people.
Holding a raffle amongst the customers at her Stourbridge based beauticians Tej & Co, Tejinder and her staff were able to raise the fabulous amount of £250 for YMCA Open Door.
Two Dudley Councillors will be spending Christmas Eve sleeping rough to raise awareness of youth homelessness in Dudley and money for YMCA Black Country Group!
YMCA Black Country Group are now half way through their campaign to recruit “25 Hosts in 25 Weeks” in order to meet the growing demand for accommodation in Walsall, but are still looking for more people to come forward in the run up to Christmas.
YMCA Black Country Group announced today our largest investment in the Black Country in recent history with the launch of phases 2 & 3 of the YMCA Western Gateway development in West Bromwich. The project represents an overall investment of around £9.5M on our Carters Green site and will be an iconic landmark, located on the western approach…
Local young hero Zubairi Sentongo from YMCA Black Country Group has been shortlisted to receive the Young Achiever of the Year Award in this year’s prestigious YMCA Youth Matters Awards. Residents are now being encouraged to get behind Zubairi, 19, and help him reach the final stage of the judging process in an exciting online…
The YMCA announced today that it is to save the Young People’s Homeless Service provided by a local Walsall charity from closure.The STREAMS project which provides 21 flats of supported accommodation in North Walsall, run by local charity First Base Walsall was due to close on 30th September following the removal of Supporting People grant…
Two of our Housing Key Workers took to great heights on Sunday 20th July to raise money for YMCA Black Country Group. The pair volunteered to hurl themselves off a 138 foot crane (whilst attached to a bungee rope) raising over £100 between them.
YMCA Black Country Group aims to recruit “25 Hosts over 25 Weeks” in a campaign to provide more accommodation for homeless teenagers across the Black Country.
Councillor for Dudley, Richard Body will be supporting YMCA’s Open Door project, to provide homes for vulnerable teenagers in Dudley.
YMCA Black Country Group will be joining other YMCAs across England in a mass cycle challenge, ‘Tour de Y’ to get more people active and raise vital funds to support local community projects. And they want the entire community to get involved too.
A couple of weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to be featured in The Independent newspaper. The article focuses on Zubairi Sentongo, a YMCA Open Door resident who moved to Wolverhampton after a difficult childhood in Uganda.
YMCA Black Country Group celebrated 5 successful years of Supported Lodgings project which has provided over 14,000 nights of accommodation for homeless teenagers.
YMCA would like to invite people across the Black Country to join them in an evening of celebration of 5 years of the YMCA Open Door project.
This Christmas, our residents will enjoy Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, courtesy of local supermarkets.
Could you extend hospitality to someone in need this winter? YMCA Black Country Group is currently calling out for caring ‘hosts’ across the Black Country who can let a young person stay in their spare room.
YMCA Black Country Group are delighted that the Nightstop emergency accommodation scheme which they run right across the Black Country was featured in last Saturday’s edition of the Guardian.
A number of disadvantaged young people who have been working with the YMCA have been awarded at the Black Country Sports Awards last Friday for completing the ‘Get On Track’ programme.
Students at Stafford Grammar School have donated their Harvest offerings to our residents at the foyer in Rugeley. The school has been donating their Harvest offering to us for almost 10 years and we rely on support of local organisations, such as Stafford Grammar School to help us raise awareness and break the stigma attached to…
YMCA Black Country Group has had a fantastic representation at YMCA Europe Festival in Prague this month. The theme of this year’s festival was “Love to Live”; it is an opportunity for young people from across the globe to come together and celebrate their love for life, meeting new people from all walks of life.
Rachael Taylor works for YMCA Black Country Group as the Host Co-ordinator for the Open Door Project. Rachael decided to run the Coniston Marathon to raise money for the Open Door Project, to enable the young people and Hosts involved in the project to go for a break on a residential weekend away, to get…
YMCA Black Country Group are delighted to announce the first home delivery of a baby within one of the housing projects in its 125 year history.
A report released today by Homeless Link and backed by homeless charities Centrepoint, YMCA England, St.Basil’s and Depaul UK indicates that many 16 and 17 year olds are not being properly housed or assessed by councils, potentially putting them at risk.
YMCA Black Country Group has been working in the Black Country since 1888 and would like to invite local people to help them celebrate their 125th birthday!
Before I got involved with the YMCA, I was living in a foster home; I found living in the intimacy of a family was no longer working for me. It caused many problems in the house and me moving on would be the best for everyone, but living on my own wasn’t an option as…
The YMCA’s Nightstop service provides emergency accommodation to homeless young people who need somewhere to stay for a couple of nights until something more permanent is arranged for them. Rachael and Kenny were approved as Emergency Nightstop Hosts for YMCA Black Country Group’s Open Door Scheme late last year and have just had their 4th…
YMCA Black Country Group today announced that funding had been secured to complete the £9m redevelopment of their centre in Carters Green West Bromwich, which will give the area a dramatic make over for the 21st Century.
YMCA Black Country Group rallied over 100 people to sleep rough in freezing temperatures this weekend who have raised over £6,500 for the local charity, in order to support homeless young people across the Black Country.
Plans have been submitted for a landmark building in West Bromwich owned by the YMCA for almost half a century to be completely refurbished and upgraded. The development, which is due to take place on the YMCA’s Carters Green site is awaiting planning consent, which will give the green light to the project.
YMCA Black Country Group will be holding the first YMCA Fun Run in Sandwell Valley on Saturday 27th October.
YMCA Black Country Group has received money in order to change people’s health for life, in Sandwell. The funding comes from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme which awards grants to projects that make a difference to the lives of people most in need across England.
Natalie Gilliland, PA to the CEO here at YMCA Black Country Group has just completed the 3 peaks challenge in aid of YMCA Black Country Group. There were plenty of ups and downs and lots of money raised to support our residents. Natalie was kind enough to share her experience with us.
Our Day Nursery & Family Centre in West Bromwich which was opened in September 2011, has been awarded a prestigious design award at the Celebrating Construction Awards 2012 at the ICC in Birmingham.
A West Bromwich day nursery which only opened its doors in 2007 has received an “Outstanding” Ofsted report for EVERY ELEMENT OF ITS PROVISION, leaving it in the top 10% of all private day nurseries in the country.
YMCA will be holding their annual schools sleep out event in partnership with George Salter Collegiate Academy on July 1st 2011.
Sutton Coldfield resident Eric Stott Makes the New Years Honours List for Outstanding Service to Local Community.
Community regeneration specialist Frank Haslam Milan (FHM) West Midlands is branching out into new markets after securing a contract to begin the Western Gateway Redevelopment of the YMCA in West Bromwich.
Phase one of the YMCA Redevelopment will be launched by Councillor Bob Badham on 7th September. The multi-million pound vision for the new YMCA development began this week with the start of building work on phase one – the demolition of a block of 1910’s terraced houses at the rear of their property on Carters…
