Linx Week 13 Lockdown Update

June 22nd 2020

We are writing this on the back of a superb week 13 of lockdown! We have lots of new and exciting updates we would like to share with you in this newsletter.
Please check our weekly video update during week 13 of lockdown which demonstrates Linx team’s continued actions in supporting our young people, families, and communities:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdZkMDuBhOc
As lockdown rules and regulations continue to be relaxed with each passing week, we are continuing to shape, tailor and deliver our provision to best support the communities in which we work.
• 12 new households have been delivered food packages with arts and crafts this week! As ever huge thanks to Neighbourly, Fareshare, County Durham Community Foundation for their continued support with food surplus and Middlesbrough College with arts and crafts supplies.
Lauren from Hemlington said “Thank you for my little boys’ stuff he had to do some schoolwork on Mackenzie Thorpe & he used the book and paints that u provided thank u”.
• In-line with Public Health England and local and national government advice and following our conversations with the Federation for Detached Youth Work (FDYW), we have completed a detailed and thorough COVID19 risk assessments and purchased PPE for our staff, as we are hoping to commence delivery of detached youth work in areas where young people are most at risk. We believe young people in Middlesbrough at present need our support more than ever.
• Our staff have attended a wide range of training events during this week to continue their personal and professional development to allow us to review, update and improve our services for young people, this included looking at ways to measure our impact and further teachings around detached youth work during COVID19.
• As part of Small Charity week 2020, we developed a short video to participate in #SmallCharityBigImpactDay. This was a great opportunity to raise profile of the great work all charities deliver in our town. Thank you to you all.
• Without our COVId19 volunteers, we could not have done what we do every day. We delivered a thank you card and a voucher, as a token of appreciation, to one of our COVID19 volunteers who has been helping us for the last 12 weeks to make parcels up for families, despite having two little one herself. Thank you for your continued support.
• We have continued to support both young people and adults from the communities in which we work this week, by helping them on the road to getting into employment education and training. We have sourced CSCS card opportunities for one individual and signposted another young person to relevant employment support service in Middlesbrough.
• In this week’s virtual youth club, we had special guest Barbora Adlerova from Cardiff University who delivered a great engaging session with our young people around creative writing and food power! We wanted to share with you, the poem our young people wrote around food power:
They are so sticky with caramel
It looks like a phone when its solid
Feels like a pillow just so tasty
Outside solid inside soft

In the week in which “non-essential” shops, zoo’s and some theme parks have begun to reopen, we would just like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone in all of the communities in which we work to continue to adhere to social distancing guidelines and stay safe. We look forward to the day in the not too distant future when we can engage with you all again in person whilst remaining safe. Finally as an organization who supports the most vulnerable and in need young people and families, we wanted to extend our gratitude and congratulate Marcus Rashford on an amazing campaign to secure free school meals for those most in need across the country. We at Linx hope to continue to play our part in working to support those most in need in our communities.
We hope you find this briefing useful and please contact us if you are aware of any young people and their families in Middlesbrough who will benefit from our current ever evolving activities and support. Please share this amongst your contacts if you see necessary. Thank you to all our local partners who continue to work together and provide the best possible outcomes for our young people, families, and communities within Middlesbrough.
Please continue to “stay alert, control the virus, save lives”