CEO Dom Wood and Board Chair Nick Hooper said “We’ve had a landmark year, securing a strong future for the delivery of vital services for young people who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, and leaving care in Bristol and the Southwest.”

Major successes included:

• Developing detailed plans for our Grade II* listed home, Kingsley Hall thanks to generous support from and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. We’re transforming our historic building to create new training spaces, affordable homes, community hire spaces, and a new social enterprise café with training kitchen, read more about it here.

• Supporting 265 care-experienced young people through our Reboot West Impact Trial, looking at the impact of a therapeutic approach for care-experienced young people on education, training and employment outcomes.

• Our Bristol Youth MAPS and Woodleaze teams continuing to deliver exceptional support to young people (homelessness prevention and safe accommodation, respectively) – reflected by securing an extension of both contracts.

• Our 10th annual Sleep Out event, which raised £26,382, and our first-ever Kilimanjaro fundraising trek, which raised £44,000, in support of our fight against youth homelessness.

• Our Youth Education Service (YES) doubled the number of students taking exams after just one year of delivery.

How can 1625 help young people?

We help young people with many different things, depending on their situation. We support young people with housing, learning to live on their own, finding jobs and training, managing their health, and developing the confidence and skills they need to become independent.

Our Projects

Accommodation: Providing safe and secure accommodation to young people aged 16-25 is vital to our mission and vision. We provide a range of accommodation options, including emergency housing, different types of supported housing and more independent “move on” accommodation.

We also run drop-in centres in Bristol and South Gloucestershire to ensure that young people can access the housing and support that they need.

Financial capability:  We know that both having enough money and managing it well are important for everyone, especially young people. For the young people we support, money is key to their independence and their ability to access and sustain a safe home.

Positive Contribution:  We offer opportunities for young people we support and our volunteers to share their skills experience and time so we can offer the best possible support to young people. 

Relationship Building:  Positive, healthy relationships and friendships are important for young people to feel safe and happy. 1625 provides a range of support services for young people to help them build these connections.

Education Employment and Training (EET): We help young people overcome the barriers they face in accessing and sustaining education, employment and training. 

We support young people to build on their strengths, grow aspirations, and make plans to achieve their goals.  Through our support, young people can develop core employability skills including confidence, well-being, timekeeping, teamwork, communication, self-belief and motivation. 

Health and Wellbeing: Our mission is to support young people to be the best that they can be. We want to empower young people to be able to stay safe and look after their physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing.

We’re restoring Kingsley Hall, our Grade II* listed home in Bristol’s Old Market, thanks to generous support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund!

Kingsley Hall has a rich history but the building is deteriorating. We’re preserving its heritage and transforming the Hall, creating a vibrant, welcoming space that will provide training, support and housing for young people who have been homeless, at risk of homelessness or are leaving care.

View Other Impact Areas