The Malcam Charitable Trust has over 20 years experience working with young people from all walks of life, many of whom have been disadvantaged in some way. Some have found their way to the Trust via schools and other organisations, some have come of their own volition, eager to gain skills and get their lives on track.
Our work spans both social and developmental problems and attempts to help young people address numerous barriers to their successful development and ultimately equips them to attain full time employment.
Every year we offer over 130 youngsters an holistic package of support and skills development through a wide range of formal and informal learning activities. Our highly skilled staff are at the centre of our success in engaging with hard-to-reach young people. The relationships they build with Malcam Trust clients are both motivating and inspirational – and in many cases may be the first positive relationship with an adult that a young person has experienced.
For our young people, realising potential starts with realising you have it! To achieve that requires two things: someone to tell you that you actually do have potential and an opportunity to prove it to yourself and to others. So this is what we offer our young people – a combination of long term personal support and mentoring coupled with worthwhile and challenging activities.
Our goal is simple: to give young people the motivation, confidence and skills they need to change their own lives.
More recently the Trust has begun to offer programmes that meet the needs of the wider community. We live in challenging times and we believe the current economic crisis offers a wonderful opportunity for community development to take place.
It is time to return to the values of yester-year; when people knew who their neighbours were, freely gave support in times of crisis and took pride in their homes and their families. Children need to be able to play safely, to take risks safely and to experience and practise helping out around the home, sharing meals, practising conversation, taking responsibility for something and developing life skills that will allow them to grow up to become contributing members of their communities.
To facilitate this opportunity we offer workshops that teach skills such as cooking, sewing, knitting, crafting, effective child-raising techniques and basic gardening. We encourage net-working among groups that could otherwise be isolated – young mothers for example, and we encourage our participants to ‘pay it forward’ – to take the skill they have learned and teach it to at least two others.
We also offer a one week course we call ‘Women Work!’ which offers effective preparation and mentoring for women wishing to return to the work force.
Programmes and dates are posted on this website as they become available.
We do make a difference!