Who we are
Uprising Youth and Community is a growing charity based in Ashford, Kent that aims to support young people, families, and communities facing significant challenges, achieve improvements in life, resulting in personal and community transformation.
The Charity is based in the heart of Ashford and runs numerous, coordinated projects around the region which work towards this transformation.
Our Values
We want to invest in all aspects of peoples lives to build authentic and lasting relationships. We want to be a place that can be trusted for help, advice and where people can become part of a genuine community.
The Metanoia Project
The Metanoia Project: Mind, Heart, Action was developed to tackle the rising issue of knife crime and seeks to educate our young people (parents, and the wider community) on the impacts that carrying a knife can have, not only for the victim but also for the perpetrator. We want to see young people giving up their knives and we want to see young people encouraging each other to not carry a knife and if they are to hand it in. We hope that by highlighting this issue and talking about it that we will challenge the glamorisation of knife crime and Change young people’s minds, that will lead to a change of Heart, that will lead to a change in Action.
Aspire+
Working closely with schools, the charity delivers the Aspire programme; an alternative education course for young people aged 14-16 who struggle within a mainstream setting.
Our aim is to provide these young people with basic qualifications whilst raising their aspirations; encouraging change and giving them the best opportunity to go on to further education, employment or training.
CAT & Project Purple
Community Action Teams (CAT) is a gardening service run by the charity and works closely with Ashford Borough Council. The team works across Ashford maintaining communal spaces and shared gardens. CAT also provides the opportunity for Aspire students to gain work experience.
Project Purple is a community development and transition project for year 6 students from a local primary school. Students work with the uprising team to regenerate an unused green space for the benefit of the local community.
Hang 10
Hang 10 is Uprising’s youth outreach work. We seek to positively engage young people wherever they congregate in local parks and housing estates. Hang 10 provides sporting activities, games and staff to talk to for support and advice. All of Uprising’s projects have developed out of this outreach work and it is still at the core of what we do.
Uprising’s work continues to expand in order to meet local needs. We work with many organisations including churches such as Grow Church based in Ashford as well as local schools and Ashford Borough Council.
Staff are a combination of full-time, part-time staff and volunteers. Uprising Youth & Community is non-profit Charity.