Last Updated: Dec 18
Category: GBN Projects
The GBN was successful in obtaining nearly £20,000 of funding from the Hanson Environment Fund to help The Next Step Trust set up a community café, situated in a community resource centre for individuals with complex needs and learning disabilities in the busy King Cross area of Halifax .
The Next Step Trust is a privately run charitable organisation set up to provide an extended learning provision for young people in Calderdale aged 19-25 years, who have complex needs and learning difficulties. It is now widely accepted that from the age of 19 these young people rapidly lose any skills they have developed, as a result of the limited opportunities available once they leave secondary education. A community resource centre would immediately benefit many of these people by maintaining and enhancing the everyday living skills they have acquired through the education system.
The community café will provide basic, healthy food in a socially disadvantaged area. It will provide meaningful life, training and work experience to the disadvantaged, vulnerable, disabled young people who will operate the café on a voluntary basis. The funding will be used to equip and install the kitchen and café area, to include height adjustable work surfaces and cooker units for wheelchair users. The community café will also include a conservatory and outdoor seating area. It will be equipped with four internet linked IT work stations, and will be a central hub for youth environmental / volunteering schemes.
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| The New Kitchen Under Construction |
The community café is located in a four year old Disability Discrimination Act compliant building, a former MENCAP Centre acquired by the Community Foundation for Calderdale. The Next Step Trust charity will lease the majority of the ground floor, which will also include a sensory room, IT suite, changing area and a communal area that can be let to local community groups.
The project has received substantial financial support from local businesses, with many others becoming “support partners”, offering their services for free. The project also has the backing of Action Halifax who have provided £104,000 from the government’s Single Regeneration Budget.
This project extends the GBN’s success in obtaining funding for community cafés in other areas of multiple deprivation in Calderdale, namely the Noah’s Ark Community Café (also set up with money from Hanson Environment Fund), The World Peace Café in Halifax , and the Acorn Centre in Todmorden.
The Next Step Trust is due to open its doors to its first young people early in October and is equipped to welcome all members of the local community to its busy location.
