KEY+ Group: 2 School 4 Kool

Five young women from South Tyneside joined forces with Bright Futures Young Women’s Project where they took on the KEY+ Challenge and supported families impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

Erin, Sarah, Ellie, Jamie, and Lucie noticed how families were struggling with rising costs in their community and wanted to deliver a stage 2 KEY+ Project to alleviate the pressures. The group came together to come up with ideas and soon realised that a free uniform event for young people in secondary school was a unique way to make a difference.

With their idea settled, the young women got to planning. They searched online for costs of items and undertook research for what they would need to run their event and make it a success. All of their planning came together, and they were soon ready to pitch their project to a KEY+ panel.

The young women were nervous, but they pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and delivered a brilliant pitch. It was no surprise that the group got the big YES they were after and the green light to make their idea a reality.

2 School 4 Kool got to work. They purchased the items of clothing that they needed and promoted their event in the community by distributing leaflets. The event was a big success on the day with more people turning up than the group had imagined. The group were proud that their project supported so many people and noticed that it helped people from other services including a local Domestic Violence refuge. All in all, 2 School 4 Kool’s Stage 2 project really highlighted how much their community was feeling the impact of the rising costs and enabled the young women to make a real impact.