Allsorts Youth Project has been supporting and empowering children and young people from the ages of 5-25 who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trans or Unsure (LGBTU) of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity in Brighton & Hove for 18 years!
They have supported 1,000’s of young people, 100’s of parents and delivered LGBT+ and Trans Awareness training to organisations and schools reaching over 20,000 people across the city and in Sussex – they couldn’t have done any of it without the support and help of our staff teams, trustees and countless volunteers.
Jess Wood MBE, Co-founder and Strategic Director, said: “When we set up Allsorts 18 years ago as volunteers, we had one thing in mind, to create a safe and supportive space for our children and young people. In those very early days, the knowledge that the project was helping a dozen young people on a regular basis seemed like a wonderful achievement.”
As the project comes of age demand for their service continues to grow with over 380 individual children and young people accessing their groups and one-to-one emotional support last year alone.
Through their work with young people they identified various needs and wanted to do something to meet them which has meant their services continue to diversify.
In the last four years we’ve introduced the following services:
♦ Kids Group (5-11 year old trans and gender exploring children)
♦ Parents & Carers group (peer led support group for parent’s carers of Trans/ Gender questioning young people)
♦ Urgent Need Advocacy Service – partnered with MindOut
♦ Youth Groups in West Sussex (Chichester & Horsham)
♦ Rainbow Flag Award – partnership to enable schools to effectively combat and prevent homophobic/ biphobic/ transphobic bullying.
As they come of age they have been looking back and reflecting on what has changed within their communities, what they have achieved as a project and their hopes and dreams for the future.
Allsorts want to show their children and young people who might not be able to imagine life as an LGBT+ person in adulthood that there are inspiring, successful and wonderful stories out there, particularly from the Allsorts Alumni!
If you accessed any of Allsorts services in the last 18 years, volunteered for them or simply have a story to tell they want to hear from you.
What are your memories of the project? Perhaps you met your best friend, partner, husband or wife here? How did Allsorts help you? What are you up to now? If you’d like to share your story with them email media@allsortsyouth.org.uk – and they will be in touch with you if they wish to use your story.
There are also a number of other ways you can get involved with Allsorts – you can:
♦ Apply to become a Community Volunteer and help their Youth Support Workers facilitate their group work.
♦ Fundraise for them – do you want to run a marathon for them? They have places if you’re interested!
♦ Donate directly to them – you can make a one-off donation or set up a monthly donation.
♦ Engage with them and promote their work to your networks via twitter or facebook
Jess Wood MBE, continued: “Over the years, with the help of amazing staff and volunteers and the support of the wider community we have grown up in every sense of that word. What pleases me the most as our co-founder is that in this development we have never lost our sense of fun and creative spirit. I love to see the generations of children, young people, staff and volunteers blossom in the freedom of spirit which was our founding principle. Happy 18th birthday Allsorts! “
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