Type: Foundations for Life
Area: Birmingham

Project: Creating a dedicated Foundation for Life learning centre within existing supported housing accommodation.

St Basils is a Youth Agency working with homeless and at risk young people. Over 40% of the young people who come to them have been excluded from school, and two in six have been in ‘care’. They have a range of support programmes which support young people through gateway schemes back in to education and training, with a view to supporting them into employment and independence.

The Project
Gillott Road provides supported accommodation for 11 young people but it currently has no communal learning space or room for private counselling. The staff there have found it difficult to deliver the second chance education and training that is proven to prevent repeat homelessness.

The project will extend the house at Gillott Road with a single storey extension, creating a specialist learning room that will benefit the young people at Gillott Road and those from the surrounding area covered by the development team. Within this Foundation for Life ‘hub’ the young people there will be able to study for City and Guilds accredited qualifications.