AMBER ALERT

BITA teams up with Amber to help young homeless and unemployed people transform their lives

The Amber Foundation is a small charity providing young people with a temporary home and all the support, space and opportunity that they need to make positive changes to their lives. Based at three residential centres near Dorking in Surrey, Trowbridge in Wiltshire and in mid Devon, they offer support that is a little bit different.

The young people are aged 16 – 30 and are often dealing with complex problems such as mental ill-health, childhood trauma and family breakdown. Amber provides intensive and holistic support that helps young people tackle what is holding them back so that when they leave Amber they do so into sustainable accommodation and with a job or further training for employment.

The day at Amber is structured to mirror a working day and all young people take turns helping with day to day things like cleaning and cooking. Although everyone has their own tailored plan, young people are encouraged to develop their skills in four key areas: employability, independent living, health and wellbeing and personal development.

And Amber’s approach works.

Last year, 71% of the young people moved on positively from Amber into stable accommodation. An independent report into Amber’s work found that for every £1 invested, Amber generated £12.24 in social value over 3 years through economic benefits and avoided Exchequer costs.

So how can BITA help?

• Around 160 young people move through Amber’s centres each year and are looking for employment or apprenticeships and opportunities to learn new skills in the workplace. Unemployment is running at 14% for 16-24 year olds at the moment, which is higher than any other age group so support helping young people into work is vital.

• Amber relies on fundraising for half of its income each year so if anyone is looking for a fundraising challenge then any support would be hugely welcome!

Tasha’s story

Tasha had a traumatic childhood and in her early teens she got involved with the wrong crowd and started drinking and taking drugs. Aged 16, she began working for a gang and eventually became street homeless.

Whilst at Amber, Tasha volunteered with Volunteer-It-Yourself (VIY), an organisation who challenge young people to renovate community space while teaching them trade skills, and helped to turn some disused garages into workspaces. She also got involved with GASP Motor Project who came to Amber once a week to teach the young people basic motor mechanics and practical engineering skills. Working on renovating an old go-kart inspired Tasha to re-enrol at college to do a course in Mechanics.

Tasha recently moved out into a room in a shared house. She is still doing her college course full-time and is also doing some cleaning work part-time. Once she has finished her course, Tasha would like to work in construction or mechanics, but she is proud of how far she has come to date, she said:

“There was always someone to talk to and to make me laugh, I remember one night when I was struggling, I sat out on the field and one of the support workers came and joined me and chatted for ages. He made me feel like I wasn’t alone. If I hadn’t come to Amber, I think I’d be dead or in prison. I would definitely still be using as I couldn’t see any way out from the situation that I was in. Amber saved me.”

If you are interested in getting involved with Amber or finding out more please make contact with Stephen Ballantyne on Stephen.ballantyne@amberweb.org or 01761 221 557