Celebrating Success: Chatham CFO Activity Hub triumphs at Kent Housing Group Excellence Awards

Seetec is thrilled to announce that our Chatham CFO** Activity Hub team has achieved remarkable recognition at the recent Kent Housing Group Excellence Awards 2024.

This momentous occasion celebrates the incredible efforts of the team and highlights our dedication to making a lasting impact on the lives of vulnerable people within our community.

In an outstanding achievement, the Chatham CFO Activity Hub has been honoured with two awards in the category of “Excellence in Delivering Services for Vulnerable People.”

This accolade is a recognition to the work of the team’s Women’s Project and Young Men’s Project.

Women’s Project

This initiative, set up by our Chatham team, enabled one participant in particular to engage with the hub, after feeling as though there was nothing of value on offer to her.

After working closely with her support worker, she quickly found her ‘safe haven’ in the weekly Women’s Project cooking groups.

This person continued to consistently engage with the hub for over a year which allowed her the opportunity to pursue her goal of becoming self-employed.

She feels extremely lucky to be able to turn her passion into paid employment, especially with the barriers of a conviction.

Young Men’s Project

At the beginning of 2023, Chatham CFO Activity Hub was approached by the Probation Service with a challenge they were experiencing; lack of engagement with the 18-25 year old cohort of young men.

It was at this point the team began to plan and mobilise on ‘Young Men’s Mondays’; a project focused on reducing reoffending rates with the 18-25 male cohort across Kent and Medway, by affording them protective time to explore and address issues pertinent to them.

Young Men Mondays has allowed Probation and the hub to work in partnership and look at supporting these young men together, rather than as two distinct services.

This unique group allowed us to interact with the hard-to-reach cohort and work on supporting them to live independently, grow their confidence and empower one another to move away from offending behaviour.

Mark Nickson, Head of HMPPS CFO says, “I am thrilled that the Chatham CFO Activity Hub has been recognised by the Kent Housing Group Awards. CFO support is tailored to each participants’ unique circumstances, risks and needs.

“The CFO Activity Hubs provide a holistic array of social, creative and group activities, fostering connections with positive role models and peers, including those with lived experience.

“The impactful work done in Chatham with women and young men directly addresses community needs and has significantly reduced recidivism (the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend).

“It is particularly rewarding that both Seetec and Shaw Trust accepted this award together, highlighting the commitment of CFO providers nationwide to ensure a seamless transition for the participants we support.”

In August 2024, as part of the new CFO Evolution contract, Shaw Trust took over as the new Chatham CFO Activity Hub provider, and we are excited to be celebrating this achievement collectively as they continue the impactful work of this service.

Darren Mason, Shaw Trust Regional Manager for CFO Evolution Programme in the South East says; “We are excited to be celebrating this achievement collectively, and we will continue to build good relationships and carry on the great work what has been delivered in the Chatham Hub previously.”

Congratulations to the Chatham CFO Activity Hub team on this well-deserved recognition!

Here’s to many more successes in the future as we continue to champion positive change and empowerment for those we support.

** CFO stands for Creating Future Opportunities.

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