New Choices for Youth (NCY) has over 25 years’ experience working with children and young people in crisis. Based in Plaistow, east London, it has a 10-bed residential centre for children leaving local authority care. It runs youth clubs, workshops for teenage parents and provides volunteering opportunities for young people not in education, employment or training.
New Choices for Youth (NCY) has over 25 years’ experience working with children and young people in crisis. Based in Plaistow, east London, it has a 10-bed residential centre for children leaving local authority care. It runs youth clubs, workshops for teenage parents and provides volunteering opportunities for young people not in education, employment or training.
Last year it helped 1,500 young people. One of them was Hannah: “I always wanted to work with children but falling pregnant changed it all. I was 16, had no confidence and couldn’t really cope. Eventually, my mum persuaded me to go on a course for teenage parents at NCY. It’s been fantastic. I met others in the same position and we gave each other the support we needed and learnt to care for our babies. I’m now a volunteer here and my daughter is in the crèche. It’s a good feeling to pass on my experience to others.”
Hannah is now hoping to get the qualifications she needs to train as a teaching assistant and says she will continue to volunteer at NCY.
In 2010 the charity’s chief executive, Marcia Samuels, faced a potential disaster. “We lost our local government contracts and turnover fell from £1.2m to £500,000 overnight – we weren’t sure what we were about any more – we’d lost our funding but we’d also lost our focus.”
NYC graduated from the Pilotlight process in April 2012. With the help of the Pilotlight business mentors, Marcia was able to start dealing with the funding problems. “The Pilotlighters have walked me through a very challenging journey: I now know how much each of our services costs; we have a full-cost recovery model in place; a business plan in the pipeline; and we are more streamlined and professional. There is no way I could have done this without them – there are so many day-to-day demands but the process let me step away. It’s like therapy for your organisation.”
Gaby Heppner-Logan, BT’s director of regulatory affairs, was one of the Pilotlighters helping Marcia, along with Pilotlighters from Lloyds TSB and BP. She says: “When you work for a very large corporate organisation, going back to basics and looking at the nuts and bolts of the business on a small scale – rather than on a massive, detached, corporate one – makes you see things through a different lens,” she says.
Pilotlight, which evaluates every project it works on, estimates that the Pilotlighters’ time is worth over £45,000 per project. Murray Steele, senior financial analyst at BP, was also on the business team for NCY, and says: “I’ve always given money to charity but I realise that what I’ve given through Pilotlight is far more rewarding and valuable – both to NCY and to me. I’d never be able to fund the kind of diverse advice team we’ve created here, but in contributing, it’s been fantastic. I know the coaching we’ve given Marcia has had tangible results on the children she supports.”