Grow UK, offering young people real hope for the future

On Monday, I was delighted to join a group from the Sheffield Green Party for a tour of GROW UK, on Manor Lane, near Manor Lodge, Sheffield. Not only did I come home with a massive organic courgette, but I also returned inspired and encouraged by the work that is happening in my community.

Grow is a youth development charity working with 16–24‑year‑olds in Sheffield who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) and are facing significant challenges. Many young people who they work with, experience mental health difficulties that have resulted in social isolation and a lack of engagement in work or training prospects. Their programmes combine coaching with gardening and nature-based activities to help their trainees combat social isolation, boost their wellbeing and develop employability skills.

Having spent many years working in Further Education, trying to encourage students who had not done well academically in school, I know how difficult this is. But it was obvious from the outset that GROW Sheffield is giving young people a purpose and inspiring them to go on to greater things. As one of the young men told us, “There isn’t anybody who wouldn’t benefit by spending some time at GROW.”

Here is Cllr Ruth Abbey talking to Sarah Herrett about their work.

Sarah said, ” I’m the head of fundraising at Grow, which is a very grand title,
which means my responsibility is to raise the money so we can provide our programmes for our young people here at Green Estate. Our young people are incredible.
They come to us with various challenges, which is why they’re not in work or education,
and we provide amazing programmes on our Grow farm and in the community with Grow employment partners. So they gain experience, they gain key skills, employability skills, and they’re able to then take that into work later on, which is really transformational for them.
Our impact is phenomenal. If somebody joins us for the four-week initial programme, around 75% of them are in work within three months. If somebody joins us for both our
programmes over 14 weeks, 90% of those young people are in employment within the next 12 months. It’s a phenomenal impact that we have on them.

There are lots of different ways that people can support Grow. You can make a donation to Grow. You can give us some time. We love our volunteers. We provide full training for our volunteers. They are amazing. Whether it’s volunteering on the farm with our trainees, volunteering in the office, or volunteering at events, we are open to suggestions of what people would like to do.”

Do check out the GROW website and donate to them if you can. And if you are a young person wondering what to do now that you’ve left school, do check out what GROW may be able to offer you.