Youth Worker

The Pelham is a local Christian charity that enriches lives in real and diverse ways for our community in Sidley, Bexhill. The Pelham aims to benefit the community through our charitable activities & projects, and effective partnership working.

This exciting opportunity to join a dynamic and vibrant local charity also represents a growing youth work provision, which has been developing over the last 5 years with an engaged group of local young people and strong links to local schools, community groups and churches. We are looking for a visionary and passionate youth worker to build on what has worked well to date and establish new opportunities and activities for local young people to benefit from. We are passionate about seeing local people’s lives lived to the full and reaching their potential in a supportive environment.

Following the opening of the basement in September 2023, The Pelham has a designated space for children and young people to call their own. In our current work as a Community Hub, we have over 60 partner organisations and over 400 people a week coming through the doors, and our vision is to see the range of activities and partners be replicated for local youth.

As well as leading the youth work, this postholder will join part of The Pelham’s project leadership team alongside the other four core projects:

• Our volunteer-run Coffee Lounge is open 5 days a week, providing a safe and warm space in the community to over 150 customers each week.
• The Pelham as a Community Hub welcomes over 400 people through our doors each week and hire our spaces out to over 60 different local organisations that use The Pelham as a base for their valuable assistance to help people in need locally. The range of organisations covers the voluntary, statutory and small business community to create a vibrant and dynamic space.
• RunningSpace is our suicide prevention project with a vision to champion life and beat suicide through walk2run groups. We currently run sessions in five locations, across East Sussex and Kent. We also host suicide prevention training too on a regular basis.
• The Pelham Counselling Service offers individual and group work therapy sessions with its team of 9 counsellors. It offers bursaries and a flexible service to best meet the needs of local people.

In joining the team, collaborative working will be at the heart of the development of the youth work, including group therapy sessions for young people, suicide prevention work and volunteering and employability pathways.

As a charity and team our core values are to be:

- Welcoming- We welcome everyone in with love and respect

- Relational- We build strong and trusted connections within our community

- Generous- We choose to be generous as we look to bless people we meet

- Authentic - We aim to have integrity, openness and compassion in all we do

- Ambitious - We create sustainable and transformational opportunities that impact people for good.

The current outworking of the role, fulfilled in 12 hours a week, includes:

• The creation of P84 Youth as a trusted youth project, inspired by Psalm 84, in creating a safe dwelling place designated for children and young people in our community.
• Running an after-school youth club for secondary school aged children on a Tuesday evening, supported by a team of volunteers. Currently, 30 young people on average attend.
• Working within the local secondary school’s pastoral care team on Monday and Tuesday lunchtimes
• Development of activities for The Basement, which is the designated space for children and young people at The Pelham. This space was opened in September 2023 following an extensive capital redevelopment.
• Providing a range of activities and events in the school holidays.

Actual £20,250 to £21,750 (£27,000 pro rata - 29,000 pro rata) – dependent on experience

Main Purpose of the Role:

The Youth Worker will take the leadership role in the development of Youth work from The Pelham, as part of its charitable work and community service, working under the guidance of the CEO and as part of the Project Leadership team.

The role will include having vision to develop relevant and appealing opportunities in Bexhill for young people, working together with local partners, including schools and voluntary organisations. This will include innovative options outside of our current scope of work, which may include wellbeing activities, studying support, home education, group work therapy and more.

There will also be administrative responsibilities specific to this role, including safeguarding and risk assessing all activities and events as well as the young people that you will be working with.

The role will also involve hosting a range of regular session specifically for young people, as well as empowering and encouraging young people, in line with the vision and values of The Pelham as a charity.

Key Tasks:

1. To create a safe environment for young people to be at The Pelham, including all necessary safeguarding requirements and good practice.
2. To run youth activities at The Pelham on a weekly basis in term time, including but not limited to:
   1. After school sessions
   2. Evening sessions
   3. Daytime sessions for home educated or de-schooled students
   4. School holiday activities
3. To provide consistent and appropriate input into the lives of local young people living in our community, giving them purpose, value and significance.
4. To develop partnerships specifically focused on the usage of the basement during the daytime. This is focused around exploring connections with home educated students, and those outside of mainstream education.
5. To establish key links with existing youth provision in the town, alongside the schools, voluntary groups and faith groups. 
6. To work alongside The Pelham Counselling Service to promote and support the wellbeing of young people, including through the use of group workshops.
7. To support a volunteer team to support in hosting youth activities, all with the appropriate DBS checks and training.
8. To work alongside the pastoral care team at Bexhill Academy to provide support to students during lunchtime(s) in the school week.
9. To explore and respond to the local need for young people, including helping to mitigate anti-social behaviour in Sidley with increased interaction and trust building. This will include working with local partners including Heart of Sidley, Rother Safety Partnership and Sussex Police.
10. This will also extend into local connections in Sidley, Pebsham, Chantry and Bexhill Town Centre in providing opportunities for children and young people and their families, as well as other youth focused organisations.

Outcomes

1. Year 1:
   1. To double the number of children and young people engaged with from within our new basement each week, from 50 to over 100 during next year . This includes through the work of partners, as well as direct delivery.
   2. To increase the number of hours of weekly youth activities from 4 hours currently to over 12 hours per week, which could include launching an afternoon homework club , music workshops and art sessions.
   3. To engage with four new external youth-focused organisations to run regular sessions