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Youth

Smile For Life Launches Green Beams Allotment Program for Young People with Learning Disabilities

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Smile For Life, a children's charity in the North-East, has launched a new work placement scheme at the Rectory Road Allotments in Gosforth, Newcastle. The Green Beams allotment provides young people with learning disabilities the opportunity to develop new workplace and personal skills in an open-air environment. The allotment complements the charity's existing Café Beam on Gosforth High Street, which offers work experience and volunteering opportunities in a customer service setting. The first students will start work next month, with up to a dozen placements expected in the project's first year.

Key Takeaways:

  • Smile For Life's new work placement scheme, Green Beams, provides young people with learning disabilities with the opportunity to develop practical skills in an open-air environment.
  • The allotment is part of the charity's existing Café Beam on Gosforth High Street, which offers work experience and volunteering opportunities in a customer service setting.
  • The project is funded by a £4,000 grant from Newcastle Building Society, which covered the costs of tools, seeds, and equipment, as well as staffing costs.
  • The program is designed to be therapeutic and help young people build their social skills and self-confidence, in addition to developing practical skills.
  • The charity will take the produce grown at the allotment to Café Beam to be prepared and served to customers.
  • Smile For Life's Chief Executive, Paula Gascoigne, stated that placements help young people develop skills for future job and voluntary roles and are also therapeutic.
  • The Green Beams allotment is a result of a partnership between Smile For Life and the owners of the Rectory Road allotments, who provided a spare piece of land for the project.
  • Newcastle Building Society's Community Fund has contributed over £2.1m in grants and partnerships to various charities and projects across the region since 2016, with an estimated positive impact on more than 151,000 people.

Statistics:

  • £4,000: the amount of funding provided by Newcastle Building Society for the Green Beams project.
  • 30ft x 10ft: the size of the allotment where the students will be planting and harvesting crops.
  • 12: the number of placements expected to be completed in the project's first year.
  • 2021: the year in which the project is being funded by a specific grant from Newcastle Building Society.
  • £2.1m: the total amount contributed by Newcastle Building Society's Community Fund to various charities and projects across the region since 2016.
  • 151,000: the estimated number of people whose lives have been positively impacted by grants and partnerships from the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund since 2016.

Sources:

  • "Smile For Life Launches Green Beams Allotment Program for Young People with Learning Disabilities" (2023)
  • Newcastle Building Society Community Fund (2023)
  • Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland (2023)

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