Don’t let us fall victim to Covid-19

Don’t let Young People First  fall victim to Covid-19.

Young People First  is a Warwickshire-based charity that helps improve the lives of vulnerable young people.

The youth sector has been under immense pressure over the past decade, with increasing social demands and severe reductions in funding, the future of Young People First is in an extremely precarious position.

Exacerbating the situation is the Covid-19 pandemic. Our supporters have either suspended donations or diverted their contributions to this more immediate concern. While this is completely reasonable and understandable, it is taking a massive toll on our organisation and the young people we support.

We need to raise £60,000

Please, donate now.

David Skoppek
Chief officer
Young People First


How Covid-19 has affected the youth sector:

The charity UK Youth conducted a survey, from 20-27 Match 2020, with over 250 respondents.

• 88% said they were likely or very likely to reduce service provision to young people

• 31% said that staff redundancies were likely

• 64% said that they were likely to lose sources of funding*


*This percentage is likely to now be higher following lockdown measures.

Source: UK Youth, 27 March 2020


Case studies

We owe it to all our young people who are so desperately in need, to ensure that there is an organisation available to them when this situation is over – an organisation who will always put Young People First.

Case study 1: JR

JR is a young boy who has endured more trauma than anyone should have to. As a result, he carries resentment, feelings of rejection, fear and anger. At 10 JR was taken from his mother and brought to live with his dad in Leamington where he knows almost nobody. He feels abandoned by his mother who chose to stay with an abusive partner rather than leaving in order to keep JR.

JR’s mental health is poor – he lives a life constantly in fight or flight mode. It does not take much to

push his buttons and he will often erupt.

With the Covid-19 lockdown, we are not able to provide the same level of support to JR that we were before. We are extremely concerned for JR’s wellbeing and the impact the lockdown is having on his mental health and his relationship with his dad.

Case study 2: JV

We were asked to support JV by his school. The main reasons for the intervention were concerns about substance misuse and his involvement in risky behaviours and situations. There were also worries of aggression towards parents and carers. We met J in an Early Help meeting and he agreed to use our support to try and improve things in his life. We met every week. JV grew to trust me and I grew to understand him. We’ve been seeing JV for over a year now and the results have been very pleasing. He has decided to focus on his future – a life in the army. We discussed the significant changes he would have to make, including removing himself from negative friendship groups, stopping the use of illegal substances and staying in school. He achieved them all and has been accepted to join army college this September. All we had to do was be there for him.