People Culture Skills
Youth Unity
Not-for-profit organisation, Youth Unity CIC has seen significant growth in a short amount of time. Financial constraints and thoughts on organisations future were the catalyst for wanting to be involved in the Active Essex Organisational Development (OD) programme.
Dedicated to supporting vulnerable and underprivileged young people who are victims of exploitation, they engage with and mentor over 8000+ young people each year in schools and communities through sports, arts and culture.
Their team are made up of two full-time directors, a project manager and part-time coordinators and councillors. COO of Youth Unity, James Henderson, undertook the diagnostic assessment with Active Essex to understand where they were at as an organisation, which provided them with the opportunity to reflect on their workforce experiences, and learning and development as a CIC.
Youth Unity have been part of the OD programme with Active Essex for over a year, and the support given is really helping the Directors reflect on the roles and responsibilities across the organisation, and the additional learning and development that needs to take place to support staff, creating an environment where staff feel valued.
As a result, James and Founder and Managing Director Shirley, have increased the number of team building days and embarked on a consultation with the staff, using imaginative ways to partake in regular check-ins, after realising that a supportive staff work culture will bring about better outcomes for the young person they’re interacting with.
Another area that the diagnostic work highlighted was opportunities for Youth Unity to improve their growth and sustainability through better structure around their volunteer network. Recognising that there are amazing and passionate retired people in their local community, who have amazing experiences and are looking for ways to help, Youth Unity have been able to tap into the untapped potential to increase their capacity to deliver.
Now with a physical premises, James and the team are looking to improve their systems for onboarding, engaging and training volunteers, through funding to implement software that will help them track and support the development of their team and volunteers.
