Happier and healthier futures for Hackney teens and toddlers

HACKNEY teens and toddlers will benefit from a peer-mentoring programme that looks to improve their school engagement and mental wellbeing next year thanks to funding from Tesco.

Power2 received £1,000 from the supermarket’s Community Grants scheme to fund its Teens and Toddlers initiative which will see young men, aged 13-15 years, improve their school engagement and mental wellbeing through the experience of mentoring a toddler in a local nursey.

For sixteen weeks, the Hackney teenagers will undertake weekly nursery visits, followed by a reflective classroom session with Power2 facilitators. Evidence shows that peer mentoring positively affects social integration and academic achievement, particularly for low-achieving students, and that the mentoring relationship is mutually beneficial.

The London-based group, is one of thousands of projects that Tesco Community Grants have supported and proudly features as an example of the supermarket’s work across the UK, in the Tesco’s Community Impact Report, published this week. Projects that tackle homelessness, support families of Servicepeople, encourage diversity and provide Covid 19 support are also highlighted.

The report, created in partnership with the charity Groundwork, who run the Tesco Community Grants scheme, celebrates the successes of the grant funding programme, which has been helping communities since 2015 and breaks down how the £100m of Community Grants was allocated over that time.

Since it began, Tesco has awarded £101,881,339 in funding to 50,880 community projects. The grant awards were decided by 738,402,011 votes cast by Tesco customers in stores across the UK using their iconic blue tokens.

As part of the scheme at Power2, the young people will mentor an assigned toddler with learning and play activities. For some participants, mentoring their assigned toddler is the first time anyone has ever looked up to them – an enormous boost to their self-esteem. Mentoring helps them improve self-confidence and resilience, which is known to reduce the risk of school exclusion and involvement in violent or criminal behaviour.

The initiative, which has run for two years, has seen 70% of participants that displayed disruptive and aggressive behaviour improve by the end of the programme with a further 91% of participants gain more self-confidence.

Charlotte Schofield, income and engagement officer at Power2, said: “We’re so grateful to Tesco for this funding. Seventy-six per cent of our beneficiaries at Power2 are based in London and from an ethnic minority background.

“We will use this funding to extend our programme to help set the foundations for disadvantaged young people to have brighter futures – preventing problems like exclusion and involvement in knife crime before they occur.

“Socio-economic disadvantage is closely linked to poor wellbeing and engagement at school. Poor mental health and school exclusion have both been found to be risk-factors for grooming by gangs and involvement in knife crime.

“Teens and Toddlers can help through early intervention to improve young people’s wellbeing.”

As well as the peer-mentoring, each session is followed by classroom session with Power2 staff the young people reflect on their time in the nursery, apply lessons to their own lives, and work towards an NCFE Level 1 Award in Interpersonal Skills. They learn how to understand and communicate their emotions, and manage their behaviour.

Claire De Silva, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “We’re delighted that we can help charities such as Power2 and their Teens and Toddlers initiative who really are at the heart of their community. Community Grants invites our customers to vote for local schemes they feel are the most important locally, and it’s good to see the real difference that the funding makes.

“I would certainly encourage other good causes in Hackney to apply for Tesco Community Grants funding. The money is there to help make positive changes now and into the future.”

The Tesco Community Grants scheme awards funds to charities and community organisations that make a positive difference to their communities, with £500, £1,000 and £1,500 available. The scheme is run in partnership with the Groundwork charity.

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Tesco to provide these much-needed funds, which will help to support local communities as we recover from the pandemic.”

To apply for a Tesco Community Grant, visit https://tescocommunitygrants.org.uk/

To access the full Impact Report go to https://tescocommunitygrants.org.uk/what-weve-funded/