Mary Reid

An odd name - it means 'moving forward' - and it is the title of a very successful project for young people in Kingston.  It is highly targeted so most people have not heard of it. But it is capturing some attention because it features as an apparent cut in the Budget.

Kingston was getting a Safeguarding Grant of £250,000 per year from the Government and that has now come to an end. Admovere costs £98,500 per year and of that £76,500 came from the Safeguarding Grant. So to keep it going in its present form would mean that we would have to find the full amount. Bringing the current project to an end means that the £22,000 is not needed.

So what does it do?  Well, it's a service for several groups of vulnerable young people.

It originally offered a programme for those in their last year of compulsory schooling who were out of school because of exclusion or chronic truancy. This is not needed much now, mainly because we have far fewer young people in those categories, and the council is supporting them much better in their schools.

Admovere also provided a highly praised mentoring scheme, where volunteers became constant friends ready to listen and advise young people who have problems and difficulties. This will continue under the Youth Support Service.

Admovere has also developed some excellent materials for social and life skills training with vulnerable young people and these have now been published as part of a European project, so are available for anyone to use.