RESEARCH

The Pebble Trust recently funded a research project conducted by the University of Brighton. The Working with Young Men project was commissioned as a result of concern among local statutory and non-statutory services regarding the wellbeing, safety, risk and life opportunities of young men in the city.  It was commissioned by the Board of A Better Brighton and Hove, a think tank co-founded by Brighton & Hove City Council and The Pebble Trust.

The project was tasked with exploring ‘what works’ for young men (14-25) in need of support. The  perspectives of young men themselves - as well as those of practitioners and service managers – were of paramount importance

Download the Executive Summary.
Download a Powerpoint presentation that is easily adaptable for organisations to use as they wish.

Following on from the research, The Pebble Trust funded two pilot projects run by:-

1/ The Hangleton and Knoll Project/The Trust for Developing Communities
2/ YMCA/Downslink.

The pilots ran from October 2022 to October 2024. Both groups have a lot of experience in and are extremely passionate about working with young men in our city. The teams each received £100,000 over the two year timespan and explored opportunities to share some of the costs so that more of the budget could be directed to the front line effort. 

The two projects had a slight difference in focus in terms of the ages of young men.  Hangleton and Knoll/TDC was focussed on 14-17 year olds and YMCA/Downslink on 16-22 year olds.  

We were very inspired by the enthusiasm and commitment of everyone involved. As the two final reports demonstrate, both projects were highly successful and they will hopefully pave the way for further work to be done in this area.