Uni Connect’s 2022 Community Fund successes
From children with SEND to young travellers, the Uni Connect Community Fund 2022 is supporting a wide range of young people across Sussex through innovative programmes that encourage and inspire them to progress in education.
Community organisations submitted applications in January for funding to develop and deliver impartial information and enrichment experiences to young learners currently underrepresented in higher education. These projects are now under way and will run until this July.
The five Uni Connect-funded community projects are:
Amaze and Greater Brighton Metropolitan College (GBMet)
https://www.gbmc.ac.uk/16-plus-courses/widening-participation
This partnership project works to connect 14- to 25-year-olds with SEND in Brighton and East Sussex through Amaze’s Amazing Futures peer-support group. Using creative workshops and shared learning, it aims to help students boost their confidence, build relationships both at and outside college, and consider their next steps.
Bourne Community College
This West Sussex school is providing Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) students and their families with information on the benefits of remaining in education. Through interventions including anxiety and motivation sessions for family members, it aims to tackle the cultural barriers to staying in education and promote good school attendance among GRT students.
FutureProof
<https://www.fpip.co.uk>
With the Community Fund grant, Worthing-based social enterprise FutureProof is extending its GoSketch programme to work with additional schools. With HE students acting as positive role models, GoSketch delivers design and sports sessions to engage disengaged learners with school and improve their awareness of higher education opportunities.
Little Green Pig
https://www.littlegreenpig.org.uk
Little Green Pig’s Amplified project offers writing workshops for young people led by industry professionals, with the aim of building confidence, communication and performance skills so the young people can share their personal stories at Brighton Festival. They are also offered a one-to-one interview to discuss their career pathways.
University of Sussex and Friends, Families and Travellers
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/about/access-to-education
https://www.gypsy-traveller.org
Working with charity Friends, Families and Travellers, a team at Sussex University is using the fund to develop two projects. They will be creating a GRT teaching resource for trainee teachers at local universities and qualified teachers in targeted secondary schools. They will also work with three Sussex Schools, supporting KS4 Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students through a journalism workshop and a photographic project focused on transition and barriers to continued education.
For more information on the Uni Connect 2022 Community Fund and the projects it is supporting, contact Debra Vice Holt.