Rede Charities

ReachOut is a mentoring charity working with 9-18year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds in London and Manchester. Young people are referred to ReachOut by their schools because they are disengaged or underachieving. ReachOut helps them to develop their character and improve their academic attainment through long-term, one-to-one mentoring with positive, volunteer role models.

ReachOut works in schools where over 50% of the students are eligible for free school meals and mentees meet weekly with their mentors at after-school projects that take place in their schools.  The mentees work one-to-one with their mentors to improve their numeracy and literacy as well as taking part in fun, group activities to improve on the four ReachOut character strengths: self-control, staying power, good judgement and fairness.  ReachOut gives disadvantaged young people the individual support they need to achieve their potential and go on to lead good and happy lives.

Since 2011, 69% of mentees receiving free school meals achieved 5 A*-Cs at GCSE, compared to just 34% nationwide. Furthermore, more than 99% mentees are in education, training or employment 6 months after leaving Year 11, and 100% of teachers worked with said that ReachOut had a positive effect on pupils’ personal development.

Coram is the UK’s first children’s charity, established by Royal Charter in 1739. Originally known as The Foundling Hospital, its founder Captain Thomas Coram campaigned to secure the provision of care for abandoned children left dying on London’s streets. Early supporters of the charity’s work included Handel, Hogarth and Dickens.Today, 277 years on, Coram is a dynamic group of charities which builds resilience and provides specialist, targeted support to the most vulnerable children and young people - creating change that lasts a lifetime. Coram now transforms 1.25 million young lives every year, operating a number of services to support children from before birth right, through to their transition to independence at age 25.

Coram’s vital services include finding adoptive families, provision of art and music therapy to traumatized children, supporting struggling parents and empowering children in care. Coram considers itself a hidden gem – with its pioneering work transforming the lives of invisible children. Their vision is that every child has the best possible chance in life.

Rede has pledged its support of Coram by donating vital funds to Coram’s Creative Therapy service. This service uses art & music to help children to express themselves and overcome trauma they may have suffered in their early lives. With Rede’s support Coram can transform more vulnerable young lives. 

The Museum of Homelessness is the first of its kind in the UK and is being developed by people from all walks of life, including those who have been homeless. Museums preserve the past, tell stories and educate. Homelessness of all kinds is currently on the rise; rough sleeping alone has increased by 102% in the last five years. The Museum of Homelessness has a role to play in supporting society to learn from what has gone before, in order to make a difference today. They do this by making the invisible visible through collecting, research, events and exhibitions.

The museum does not yet have a building and is in it's infancy, having achieved charitable status in October 2015. They are now working with partners to produce their first public programme. In 2017 the Museum of Homelessness will launch a national programme covering venues in London and beyond, including Tate Modern and Tate Liverpool.  The charity is currently based on a co-working community impact hub in Victoria, where they plan the museum's programmes and work directly with residents to provide activities for the local community. The charity also works closely with homelessness organisations including the Passage, Groundswell and the Simon Community.

The museum's early stages of development have been supported by Rede Partners, as it moves from being an idea to a fully resourced organisation with staff and volunteers. The longer term aim is a programme that reaches across the UK to respond to local contexts, working in partnership with other museums and with homelessness organisations. All of this will be achieved with people who have been homeless at the heart of it, driving the process and making decisions. Since the 1950s, there has been a tradition of ordinary men and women, some of them homeless, rising up to make change. This is documented in hidden archives and people’s memories, but not celebrated enough. Sharing these stories could well inspire others in similar situations to do the same. The Museum of Homelessness will be building upon this theme and so much more in their work in the coming years.