As part of our Traineeship, every year the Fortem Management Trainees are divided into three regional teams; the North, Midlands and the South to undertake a community challenge which improves the lives of local people and communities. This is to be completed with a zero budget. Therefore, we rely heavily on our own workforce and our supply chain partners to give up their time and resources in helping achieve this goal!

This year team South have chosen Rugby Borough Council Youth Hut as their chosen project.

According to government figures, in the least deprived areas of the country, there is just one youth club per 6,000 young people. In the most deprived areas, this figure more than doubles to over 14,000 children per club. Even when centres are available, young people claim that they are open at the wrong times, difficult to access, badly publicised and under-resourced.

Brownsover Youth Hut was created through the On Track initiative with sessions funded by Orbit Housing. This was put in place to cut down gang culture following a number of issues experienced throughout the community with gangs from neighbouring towns grooming young people. Drug sales and usage amongst young people in Brownsover was extremely high.

Since the creation of the youth hut, those figures have almost halved - which is credit to the fantastic work being delivered by the On Track team. The youth club is a central hub and safe place for young people to come and feel part of something positive in their local community. The On Track team also offer educational workshops for the young people including; Sex Education, Gang Culture, Difficult Relationships, Grooming, First Aid and Mental Health Awareness.

After 40 years of chronic underinvestment, most youth centres across the country are falling apart. Brownsover is no exception. Due to limited and short term funding, Brownsover Youth Hut is currently only run twice a week with around 70 young people, between the ages of 10 and 16, using the service each week. The severe lack of funding has resulted in the facility becoming tired, old and generally run down.

A number of other issues faced by youth clubs across the UK, including Brownsover, are poor reputation, lack of investment in design and delivery of programmes and services, as well as a low profile in the community and status of what they do.

We are looking to create an upgraded space for the young children to use and call their own. Works to the interior, exterior and garden will improve the state of the building and benefit the young people in the community. We also aim to incorporate government initiatives to create a new generation of super-clubs with modern spaces and facilities to attract young people and get them off the streets and most importantly leave a lasting legacy.