During the last year our youngest Project BroSis has seen many changes but it continues to develop into
a unique local service which is well respected by other Youth agencies with whom it works in partnership
and increasingly valued by the young people it serves.
When BroSis Centre Manager Jo Phillips (nee Dowd) decided to care for her daughter full time, Christopher Hall, who had covered the role during Jo’s maternity leave, took over as Centre Manager full time. Chris had come to us through running Blokes and Co. with a background of voluntary work with excluded teenagers and 10 years experience of sports coaching. This Autumn, Chris was promoted to Project Manager with Myra Houlding retaining her overall Development Manager role. Also this year, Assistant Centre Manager Nadine Britten left to work with the Connexions service, and we recruited Kim Smith, a lady with many years experience in a local school. Helen Hood, our p/t Trainer and Supervisor for Volunteer Mentors, has continued to train groups of new volunteers and supervise existing ones. Although we expect a natural turnover of volunteers, we also have volunteers who have remained since the start of the Project and they have provided valued continuity and enhanced the safe nurturing environment which would be untenable if using only the human resources of the paid personnel.
As well as the one-to-one Mentoring which has provided support for 123 young people since the start of the scheme, BroSis provides a range of services-
The Drop In. Previously known as the Sanctuary, this after school resource continues to be popular and in the last year 150 individual young people used it, many regularly, and this number steadily increases. They appreciate the chance to “chill out” after school and welcome the non-judgemental friendship and support and the chance to talk through their problems big and small. One of our problems is poor public transport which does marginalise youth from the rural areas and there are plans to provide the Drop-in as an outreach service to Burnham on a weekly basis to address this. However taxi journeys remain an essential item of our expenditure to get some of our young people home safely.
Blokes & Co has become The Big Sport. This group works with lads who may be at risk of offending behaviour and uses Plume School’s Sports Hall and a variety of outside activities.
Girl’s Health and Beauty Club. This meets fortnightly at the BroSis Centre in Heybridge and fortnightly at the Healthy Living Centre at Southminster.
The Film Club. This group now meets weekly at the centre using films and programmes with coming of age and transition to adulthood issues as a focus for discussion.
The Transition Groups work with children moving into secondary education and between sites in the Plume and St. Peter’s schools.
The BroSis TaskForce is the “service user advisory group” which ensures that young people themselves mould the service and its direction.
There are currently fast moving developments in young peoples’ services. BroSis is a key member of the local Children and Young Peoples’ Strategic Partnership (CYPSP) and has strong links with partner providers, both statutory and voluntary, and funders.
BroSis continues to develop without Statutory funding - it exists with the help of a wide variety of Grants and Awards which fund individual developments and aspects of the Project. How much longer this state of affairs can continue is a major concern to Maldon Mind, and we will be seeking some reassurances in the coming year that this provision, which has become such a cornerstone of good local services, has a long term future for the youth of today and tomorrow.
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