Charity of the Month: The Benjamin Foundation 2024

Leathes Prior are delighted to be supporting The Benjamin Foundation as our Charity of the Month for March 2024. As a local charity, supporting young people across Norfolk & Suffolk on their journey to independence, we are shining a spotlight on this fantastic charity to raise awareness of the work they do and who they support in our community.

The Benjamin Foundation’s main aim is to provide stability for at-risk young people, helping them to flourish on their journey to independence. What they do goes so much further than the essential first step of providing safe accommodation, into assisting them with wellbeing & mental health support along with training & work skills which support them into employment, education, and training. They also provide childcare and youth support services to make a greater impact in local communities.

Rural homelessness has risen by 21% since 2018, with East Anglia seeing some of the biggest increases. This is why The Benjamin Foundation services cover such a vast area across Norfolk and Suffolk, including underserved coastal and rural locations such as Great Yarmouth & Thetford. The Benjamin Foundation run over 30 accommodation centres services for young people, accommodating over 200 young people every night, equating to 70,000 safe nights every year. But providing safe housing isn’t all they do, their services stretch so much further than that, assisting young people in their journeys towards independent futures, and here are just a couple of the ways they do it…

In addition to its housing services, the charity offers emotional wellbeing support throughout its accommodation centres and within schools & the wider community, helping young people to talk about their feelings, and build confidence and resilience. 10,000 emotional wellbeing support sessions were delivered by the charity last year, with 230 young people accessing wellbeing support services weekly in 2023.

The Benjamin Foundation also has a Job Coach who works across their accommodation centres, helping its residents into employment, education, and training, equipping young people with the skills and knowledge they need to help build their own independence. Currently, 5.5% of 16–17-year-olds in Norfolk and 4.1% in Suffolk are out of education, employment or training. Last year The Benjamin Foundation job coach supported 122 young people into education, employment or training.

The mission they are on, to support young people to a brighter and independent future is so important, if you would like to learn more about the work The Benjamin Foundation does, head to their website here or contact Joshua Antcliff via joshua.antcliff@benjaminfoundation.co.uk for more information on how to get involved with fundraising.