Event held to celebrate work of Sheffield youth charity over the past year

Sheffield Futures, which is based at Star House in Division Street, works to provide equal opportunities for all young people across the city, in particular the most vulnerable or those from disadvantaged backgrounds to ensure they are given the same start in life as their peers.

Over the past year the charity has launched a number of schemes including Project Apollo, to support young people leaving care to move into education, work and training, and Project 0114, which aims to tackle child criminal exploitation and associated gun and knife crime across Sheffield.

It hosted its annual showcase event last month in which some of its service users shared their stories on how they have personally benefited from some of the projects run by the charity.

Gail Gibbons, CEO of Sheffield Futures, said: “Our Showcase Event is a great opportunity to launch our annual Impact Report, and for our supporters to hear young peoples’ stories and the support they have received from Sheffield Futures along the way. Each year we work with thousands of local young people through a wide range of projects and partnerships, and it is wonderful to celebrate our young peoples’ successes.

“We were delighted to welcome our Lord Mayor Councillor Tony Downing to the event. Councillor Downing spoke warmly about his commitment to the young people of Sheffield and of his appreciation of the young people taking part in the event. We are also hugely grateful to all our guests on the evening, and thank them for their support.”

Sheffield Futures also developed Youth Work Matters, a campaign to showcase why youth work is so important to those living in the city.

A recent exhibition from the campaign was on display during the showcase event, featuring photographs of the young people to highlight and tell the story of youth work and the benefit it has on all of Sheffield’s communities.

Each picture displayed a young person who had used youth clubs run by Sheffield Futures sharing their views on why you work is important to them.

The Lord Mayor Tony Downing closed the event and formally launched the impact report before inviting attendees which included partners, funders and businesses from across the region to visit a number of stalls to find out more about some of the projects available at Sheffield Futures.

This included speaking to young people from Woodthorpe social action project who have worked tirelessly to transform their youth club and founding members of ‘Acting Up’ our new young people’s podcast.

For more information about Sheffield Futures visit www.sheffieldfutures.org.uk