1/5/2008

Community Matters

Training and trips for young parents

Hannah Robinson has applied for funding for training courses and trips for the Ypod’s young parents’ group

A GROUP set up to support young parents has applied to Community Matters so it can help even more people.

Ypod Young Parents started life in November 2007 and was the brainchild of a young mother who had attended a similar class in Sheerwater but became too old to attend.

Sara Brownsea felt that, at 22, she still needed the support and, at the same time, youth worker Hannah Robinson was planning to set up a young parents’ group at the Ypod in Chobham Road, Woking.

As well as providing support in weekly sessions, Hannah now wants to enable participants to enrol on courses to increase their earning potential or improve their emotional and physical wellbeing.

She said: “This will not only benefit the parents but also the children as they grow up, as they will then be less likely to experience physical hardship.

“We also want to organise trips for the parents and their children to go on, as many of these young families do not have the opportunity to visit things many of us take for granted.”

Hannah has applied to Community Matters for a grant of £16,000 to help pay for the training courses and the trips.

She added: “Young parents often feel ‘looked down’ upon by society but we want to place value on them and help them achieve better outcomes, through learning new skills and training.

“We believe that by strengthening some of the most vulnerable families, we will be strengthening the community as a whole.”

First printed in: Woking News and Mail