Project
Out4Good Project
Out4Good is led by Project Leader Jeannette Hewes, who brings a wealth of expertise and experience from her involvement with youth people at risk and continues to move the organisation forward. She is supported by Project Worker Steve Lawton in the task.
O4G began with the support of a local church, DNA Networks. A house was provided by a church member offering accommodation to two young men.
Individual young men were referred to the project for mentoring support.
Referrals have come from: Essex Police Keep Team, Prison Chaplaincies, Youth Offending Team, local churches, self-referrals and Probation Service Offender managers.
O4G provides a sharp and challenging picture of how young people who are 'ex-offenders' might be enabled to make the crucial transition from prison and incarceration to a full and meaningful life back in the community. At very low cost O4G is effectively beginning to show that the three crucial 'pillars' to successful community rehabilitation are somewhere to live, a job and a mentor. O4G is also showing, in a some way, that Christians can make a meaningful and professional contribution in the complex arena of youth justice.
O4G has developed a model that is localized and based on service user needs analysis, with stated goals of:
• meeting offenders, including whilst they are in prison
• assisting them in finding suitable accommodation upon release
• accompanying them in seeking work, volunteering, life skills and training opportunities
The direct beneficiaries of the project are the young men who have been, or who are at risk of, receiving custodial sentences. They are mainly in the 18-25 age range and come from a mix of ethnic backgrounds. Most of them appear to have addiction and relationship issues, poor levels of educational achievement and histories of dysfunctional lives. Some of them are persistent and prolific offenders and many of them appear to have fallen through the net of normal social welfare provisions.
O4G has sponsored many purposeful activities for the lads involved, these include, canoeing, power boating, sailing, fishing, cooking, reading, football, cricket, art, and direct work experience with local self employed business men.
For further information contact:
Project Leader, Jeannette Hewes - 07817760176 or Jeannette.hewes@fyt.org.uk
Who's it for?
Young offenders/young adult offenders seeking support inside and outside YOI or prison. Referrals accepted from:
Probation Service Offender Managers
Prison Chaplains
Community Chaplains
Social Workers
Youth Workers
YOT teams
Any other concerned individual/family member
Where's it based?
Colchester, Essex.
FYT's relationship to the project
Partnership
Description of FYT's involvement
FYT operates O4G as a project and is grateful to the Big Lottery Reaching Communities funding which facilitates a high proportion of the cost of O4G.
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About us
FYT: mission with young people at risk
Frontier Youth Trust (FYT) is working with young people at risk towards justice, equality and community; we are a Christian network dedicated to helping young people and communities experience life in all its it fullness. We work directly with young people at risk, resource youth workers through training and publications, and give a voice to those on the margins. We do all this so that young people on the margins can feel and experience God.
CEO's corner
Supporting The People With The Dreams
An influential Bishop and Cricketer who is part of FYT's founding story, David Sheppard, once said of FYT, "we must support the people with the dreams". It is an enduring call to youth work.’
Recently FYT has been thinking about ways to support the dreamers. Those who are dreaming of new ways to engage young people at the edge through StreetSpace; those dreaming of ways to help the church make a difference to unemployed young people; and dreaming of a way to support young people as they seek to reduce their offending among so many other dreams.
Alastair Jones (CEO Frontier Youth Trust)