ReachOut's Impact
ReachOut is a national mentoring and education charity, rooted in local
communities. Working in under-resourced areas, we support young people to
grow in character and confidence, sparking change in themselves and
society.
At ReachOut, we run afterschool mentoring projects across London, Greater Manchester and Liverpool for young people aged 9-19.
Each young person in a ReachOut project is paired with their own volunteer mentor and, each week, through 1:1 mentoring and fun group activities, they grow in character and confidence, sparking change in themselves and society.
In 2021/22 we:
Provided
Supported
Delivered
Character. Confidence. Change.
At the heart of everything we do at ReachOut are three things: Character, Confidence and Change.
Character
The high-quality, intensive programmes we deliver go far beyond academic tutoring.
Fundamental to our approach is developing character; by which we mean Staying Power, Self-Control, Fairness and Good Judgement.
We believe a focus on developing these strengths helps young people to make better decisions and take on whatever life throws at them; at school, at home and in later life.
76% of mentees said they improved their Staying Power
This means resilience, grit, the ability to stick at something, to honour commitments and to see tasks through to the end.
69% said they improved their self-control
The ability to keep emotions in check and to choose to act (or not to act) in a certain way despite how we may feel.
70% said they improved their fairness
Treating others with respect and empathy, honouring rights and responsibilities, and being honest.
72% said they improved their Good Judgement
The ability to consider consequences and make decisions that benefit both ourselves and those affected by our choice.
“I understand myself on a much deeper level than I would without ReachOut and some of the things they teach, like Character Strengths. Slowly I could see that my character has built up and I’ve become a much better person.”
Aya, 15
Confidence
We work with amazing young people who need some additional support to reach and be confident in their potential.
Working closely with schools, we identify young people who often don’t have the advantages that others do and who are most likely to benefit from our interventions.
Our work helps young people to build their academic and social confidence and prepare them for a world of opportunities.
In our most recent survey, 88% of mentors said they saw increased confidence in their Mentees.
97% of young people said they enjoyed coming to ReachOut
“The main impact has been seeing their confidence grow within themselves. They’ve blossomed as young adults.”
Teacher at a ReachOut partner school
CHANGE
ReachOut works in areas where young people face a variety of social and economic challenges. Our programmes support young people to overcome the barriers they face, and create wider positive change in society.
Mentoring, group activities and work experiences open up fresh horizons for young people and give them new tools and networks to support their future success.
Mentoring connects people across age groups and communities and the mentor-mentee relationship helps to break down unhelpful stereotypes and preconceptions.
At the heart of all our work is our desire that the young people we work with go on to live good, happy and successful lives, whatever that looks like for them.
58% of the young people we worked with qualify for Free School Meals
We deliver over 250 work experience visits, career talks and opportunities for groups of young people every year.
We've trained and placed over 2,000 volunteer mentors over the last three years from a wide variety of professional and personal backgrounds.
“For me and my friends who took part in ReachOut, it helped to level the playing field, providing us with the same opportunities as young people from more well-off backgrounds.”
Boma, ReachOut Alumnus
