This year, we’re not only celebrating 35 years of West Kent, but also the achievement of our youth services team who have been supporting those aged between 8 and 19 for 20 years.
Much has changed within our projects and services over the years, to make sure we're offering the best support for those who live in our homes and communities.
What hasn’t changed though, is our passion for supporting young people, so they have access to the tools and services they need to achieve their goals and make the right choices for their future.
Funding for our youth projects comes directly from West Kent, Children in Need, and local parish and town councils – along with anonymous donations.
Here are some of the achievements of our youth services team over the last 20 years:
- 2004 - we started our ‘youth services’ work. We set up Young Adventurers (originally called the ‘8-12s project’), providing regular, low cost, locally based activities in a safe environment, and with an emphasis on behaviour and communication.
- 2005 - we received funding for our Hartley Youth Shelter.
- 2008 - we carried out one of our first youth surveys in Swanley, led by young people to find out more about what they needed in their local area.
- 2013 - our HOUSE project in Edenbridge was set up, providing advice, support and guidance around a range of fun and engaging activities for young people to take part in.
- 2016 - we began our young parents club, offering peer to peer support for parents in Edenbridge.
- 2017 - music festival ‘YouthFest’, was hosted by us in Edenbridge. This was attended by Harry Shotta, who performed and offered lyric writing sessions to attendees.
- 2018 - Cheryl Banks, leader in charge at our popular HOUSE project in Edenbridge won UK Youth’s prestigious ‘Youth Worker of the Year’ award. This was for her many years of hard work and dedication to young people in the Sevenoaks district.
- 2020 - our youth service officially went online, providing young people with support, social activities and guidance during the covid pandemic.
- 2021 - our youth services provision received £35k in funding to rebuild the project following the covid pandemic.
- 2023 - we celebrated ten years of our HOUSE project in Edenbridge. A project aiming to provide low-cost recreational and educational activities for young people.
Hear from our lead youth worker and former attendee of our youth forum, Ben, about why our youth services make such a big difference to our residents: