A new youth centre will be opened in Lincoln later this year
It'll help support around 300 young people to gain new skills and engage in activities
The YMCA will officially open a new centre in Lincoln later this year - it'll help support around 300 young people to learn new skills and provide a safe space for them.
The charity have been renovating the old St Giles Community Centre.
Leo Copsey is the Youth Services Manager in the county and tells us what these services mean to young people:
"Well, I think it's really important for us to be visible so that young people know that they have trusted adults, that they can go and talk to, that are separate and different from teachers or parents, just so that they can interact in that different way.
"Some of the services that our young people attend are very exclusive. They don't have the same opportunities elsewhere. So, take our special educational needs sports groups, for example, that's a real big niche, and we have families that are really happy with the work that we do there.
"I think the biggest evidence of need, is how happy they are when they come here."
Leo added that the service provides a safe space for people:
"I mean we've worked really, really hard. We're really lucky in the fact that we're in the process of opening up a new building in Lincoln. So, we're opening up a youth club in the St. Giles area of town to parallel what we do down on the Moreland - that'll be open later in the year. It'll provide lots of different activities, and there'll be specific sports clubs, there'll be groups for women and girls to come and get involved with and loads of really fun activities.
"I think one thing that we need to do as a community is really pull together, I think it's really, really important because without that hard work, without that determination there, we'd have a lot of young people who don't have a place to go. I think that without these positive engagements, we'd find young people getting into a lot more trouble and having a lot less access to activities that can upskill them or, you know, enhance their mind, body and their spirit too."
YMCA Lincolnshire was awarded a £2 million Youth Investment Fund grant to renovate the St. Giles Community Centre, opening up further engagement opportunities for the young people of Lincoln.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and Social Investment Business has announced that YMCA Lincolnshire is one of 44 youth projects across England that have been awarded a Youth Investment Fund grant to transform and level up opportunities for young people in England.