Mission & Values
Our mission is “to inspire young people to improve their lives”. It’s such a broad mission and it’s an enduring one too and at e:merge we know that we will always be striving to do the best we can to help young people improve their lives.
At e:merge we know that it is by inspiring young people that we can all work together to achieve our mission and help our communities live better and more fulfilled lives.
The way in which we go about our work is immensely important to us – we want to do the right things in the right way – from the way that we recruit staff or work with people who access our services to how we will choose the right partners or suppliers.
Our values are:
· Love
· Truth
· Equality
· Compassion
· Justice
e:merge operates in the east of Bradford; mainly in the Tyersal, Laisterdyke and Sutton areas of the city. We currently provide activities – training, outreach, sport and pastoral support – for the young people in our community, and over the last few years we have built up a strong reputation amongst both our users and the agencies who fund us.
In terms of local people, February 2008’s statistics produced by NOMIS showed that unemployment runs at more than double the Bradford average (6.2% against 3.0%) and at almost three times of the national unemployment rate (2.2%). Additionally, claims for incapacity benefit are almost double the national rate (13.7% against 7.1%) and considerably higher than the Bradford average (8.0%).
The local community has also got a higher number of young people in comparison with national and local rates. There is a danger that without early intervention that these younger residents will be condemned to joining the ranks of the unskilled and unemployed.
From the start we could see that young people in the area were missing out on opportunities to live more fulfilling lives and this led to problems of social inclusion and community cohesion that we felt could be addressed by engaging with the younger people.Over the years since e:merge’s formation, we have continued to see a higher level of need for our services.
e:merge’s unique aspect is our ability to walk the road with young people for the long haul by developing strong relationships built on mutual respect and trust. We are proud to be known for this unique quality and will strive to ensure it is maintained and improved.