OnSide partners with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal

OnSide Youth Zones is delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, alongside the Samaritans and Place2Be.

This is the first time three charities have come together in a partnership to work with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal and any funds raised will go towards helping a range of people of all ages, across the capital over the next three years.

The Lord Mayor’s Appeal aims to have a transformational impact on people’s lives by bringing together the City’s businesses, neighbouring communities, employees and charities to find solutions to some of London’s most pressing societal issues.

The Appeal will work on four key pillars to build a City that is Inclusive, Healthy, Skilled and Fair with the overall aim of making ‘A Better City for All’. The announcement comes ahead of the Lord Mayor’s Show, which takes place on Saturday 11th November through the City

OnSide Youth Zones is a game changer for London’s young people, providing substantial, additional 21st century youth provision across the capital. The charity has already developed a strong and thriving network of Youth Zones across the North West and Midlands and 2018 will see construction work start on its first centres in London.

The partnership with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal will enable OnSide Youth Zones to: offer high quality mentoring, personal development and employability skills training to ensure young Londoners are future-ready and partner with local voluntary organisations to provide a range of inspirational and developmental activities. It will also help young people with disabilities through the provision of specialist equipment.

Funds raised for Samaritans will be put towards developing a revolutionary online programme and will pioneer new volunteering opportunities, which offer flexibility to the City work force. Every six seconds somebody contacts Samaritans for help and their team of 20,000 volunteers offer a safe space to talk for those struggling to cope. Last year the charity’s 201 branches responded to 5.7 million requests for help across UK and Ireland.

Place2Be is the UK’s leading children’s mental health charity providing in-school support and expert training to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families, teachers and school staff.

The partnership with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal will enable Place2Be to help schools in London to meet the needs of their most vulnerable children by equipping 360 school leaders with the skills and knowledge to develop their school’s mental health strategy and to support their pupils’ emotional wellbeing, reaching 81,000 children.

The partnership will also help Place2Be to support the recruitment and training of volunteer mental health professionals who will work with 20,000 children and young people in schools over a five-year period.

All the charities understand the importance of people of all ages being more aware of their emotional wellbeing in order to cope with the challenges that life can sometimes come their way.

Caroline Wright, Lord Mayor’s Appeal Director said: “The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is thrilled to launch our new multi-year strategy to help one million people thrive. We aim to have a transformational impact on people’s lives by working on three groundbreaking projects with fantastic charities, Samaritans, Place2Be and OnSide Youth Zones, as well as running our own initiatives to find the solutions to some of London’s most pressing societal issues.”

OnSide Youth Zones’ London champion Charles Mindenhall said: “We are absolutely delighted to become a partner of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. This special collaboration will help OnSide Youth Zones and the City create brighter futures for young people across the capital. This will be achieved by providing safe and inspiring places to spend their leisure time, with many wonderful activities and opportunities on offer.”

Ruth Sutherland, Samaritans CEO, said: “Life can be very tough sometimes and it’s easy for people to feel alone with nowhere to turn. This partnership will raise awareness of Samaritans’ service, and provide City workers with the knowledge to look after their own wellbeing and support those around them. We look forward to working together over the coming months.

Catherine Roche, Chief Executive of Place2Be said: “Through this unique partnership with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, we will work with more London schools so that children facing mental health difficulties can thrive and reach their potential. Every child or young person who needs it should have access to high quality support, so we are thrilled that thanks to the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, we will have the opportunity to train the next generation of mental health professionals.”