Challenge

The Newark and Sherwood district has low educational attainment, employment and aspirations as there are limited opportunities for disadvantaged residents. This has resulted in Newark being one of the worst areas for social mobility in the country.  The area has been highlighted as having a “self-reinforcing spiral of ever-growing division”, with children in some areas getting a poor start in life from which they can never recover.

YMCA Robin Hood Group provide a range of frontline services across Greater Nottingham, York and East Riding, plus Newark & Sherwood, to encourage young people to belong, contribute and thrive. This includes residential settled care homes, supported housing and numerous support programmes.

Some young people have complex needs and draw from a number of our services, including family and youth work, training and education, housing, support and advice and health and wellbeing. 

The impact of Covid-19 drove increased demand for several of our services and we wanted to create a single venue from where we could provide a range of vital touchpoints to support positive youth development.

Solution

We wished to invest in new services and broaden our impact across the region. A key part of this ambition was to create a Community & Activity Village in Newark-on-Trent in close partnership with the Local Authority. The Village provides a range of accessible educational, health, leisure and community services to the town and its surrounding area.
The blended finance from Triodos Bank UK, alongside  significant grants from both the Local Enterprise Partnership (D2N2’s Growth Fund) and Newark Town’s Fund enabled the building of the facility which brings together sport and wellbeing, education, hospitality, childcare facilities and youth development programmes into one purpose-built site. 
The main building opened in Summer 2022 and guests have been enjoying facilities including a café, events and conference suite, nursery, strength and conditioning gym, climbing centre and business centre. 

We’re proud to have created a truly inspirational space for children, young people, families and businesses in a landmark facility for Newark.

The finance from Triodos Bank UK was instrumental in levering other significant grants from both the Local Enterprise Partnership (D2N2’s Growth Fund) and Newark Town’s Fund. 

This government funding is designed to drive growth and sustainable economic regeneration as well as encourage skills and employment development, resulting in wider community impact.

Revenue

Income is generated through selling services to local authorities and some grant income. 

Impact

The YMCA Community & Activity Village was created to bring together young people, families and business across Newark and the wider community, offering exciting opportunities for all our visitors.  

This is a welcoming place to come for support and motivation, helping to foster a sense of wellbeing and belonging among those who visit. It’s also a place in which young people can develop skills, qualifications and vocational training while being introduced to new opportunities. 

We hope the Village act as a blueprint for similar centres across the UK. Helping young people to thrive by finding inspiration and opportunities, giving everyone a fair chance to discover who they are and what they can become.

Quotes

“We want to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to improve community cohesion, skill levels, confidence, educational attainment, employment, wellbeing and health. The investment crowdfunding has helped us to complete this project and to start building a brighter future for this area and its community.”

Todd Cauthorn, Executive Director, YMCA in Newark & Sherwood

“This is a special facility carefully designed through intensive collaboration with the community and a number of key partners. The Triodos Bank corporate finance team was delighted to work with YMCA Robin Hood Group to put together a financing package to supplement the capital grants it had secured, so that the vision of the Community and Activity Village could be delivered.  Our real added value was being able to connect the charity directly with social investors to raise £3 million of unsecured debt by issuing a charity bond on our crowdfunding platform. We consider our partnership with YMCA Robin Hood to be an outstanding example of our unique relationship approach to an organisation that exemplifies the type of cause that we want to support.”

Tom Dyke, Corporate Finance Manager