Hall Green Youth Origins

Hall Green Youth was established by the 3 Anglican Churches in Hall Green, Birmingham. These are St Michaels, St Peters and the Church of the Ascension. We have been operational since 2009, employing Youth Workers and also supported by volunteers and students. Our original aims were to seek to increase the confidence and self esteem of young people and understanding between generations. One particular aim is to enable young people to explore their spirituality and to have the confidence to express this in worship

The project is unique in this area and represents a visible and outward sign of the Christian churches working together to serve the local community. It is all about the Church working outside its buildings, identifying and responding to community needs and the project has an impressive track record in doing this. For example, our youth workers have developed positive relationships with 2 local secondary schools and has developed lunch time and after school activities for pupils. Since Covid, the group work in both of these schools have changed to 1-1 mentoring projects.

There is a clear need for this project. There is already very little provision in the area for young people age 10-18 and the situation is getting worse as council funded leisure facilities have declined in recent years. A good deal of the work of the project is focused on the Gospel Oak estate, an area of social deprivation. Petty crime and drugs are a problem here, as is the fear of young people among older generations.

Hall Green Youth is a Company Limited by Guarantee and a registered charity (No. 1120565). The project infrastructure is mature and strong; the Directors, who come from the three Anglican churches, have wide experience of youth and other associated work.