A YOUNG mum has voiced her concerns about potential funding cuts to the charity which helped her to ‘turn her life around’.
Hannah Fletcher was just 19-years-old when she was made homeless and discovered she was pregnant.
With no-one to turn to she contacted Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs (WAYC). The charity helped her find a hostel and even gave her a job.
But the single mum from Leamington is concerned recent proposals by Warwickshire County Council to cut funding could result in people who need help from WAYC or similar charities not being able to access it.
If the proposed cuts go ahead, 25 per cent could be lost from the budget in the next four years – a total of around £500,000.
Hannah, now 24, said: “It concerns me as a young person that there might be funding cuts for youth organisations as I do not know what I would have done without the help and support of WAYC. They gave me hope and I was able to feel like an important individual by completing projects and getting involved within training schemes.
“There is little around anymore for young people due to youth cuts and government cuts. I worry about how more cuts might affect the next generation that have no-one to turn to or nothing to give them hope.”
Hannah believes it is her life experiences and the help of the charity which has made her into the person she is today.
WAYC helped her into university after the birth of her daughter, and while completing her degree in business studies she also volunteered on programmes to help young parents and supporting those in hostels.
And her passion for helping others paid off, as she now has a job at Warwick Gates Community Centre, is a trustee for the charity and is bringing up her five-year-old daughter.
She said: “WAYC helped me get the job I am doing today. They showed belief in me and gave me the confidence to build upon my own skills so I could become involved in different things I care about.
“It’s somewhere I can come to if I need any kind of help and will be welcomed. I can talk to anyone there and to have these places in the community is so important.”
