We’ve received news that Kent County Council (KCC) is selling Ramsgate Youth Centre, which has been Pie’s headquarters since 2013, as part of their ongoing effort to raise emergency funds to balance their budget.
This is hard news to share with our young people, and our community, especially after we lost our youth service funding from KCC just six months ago, and with the open-access youth service at the Quarterdeck youth centre in Margate being discontinued.
However, we feel strongly that Ramsgate Youth Centre is Pie’s rightful home and we are determined to keep it. So, we’ve decided to try to buy it.
Save Our Youth Centre campaign
We’re aiming to raise at least £500,000 to purchase the building and carry out major maintenance work to improve the building’s safety*. We’ll do this by applying for capital grants from Trusts and Foundations.
We know our community may not be in a position to donate or give money but every little helps.
How you can support our campaign:
- Donate what you can, if you can.
- Talk about Pie with people you know.
- Advocate for us.
- Share our campaign on your social media channels.
We believe young people deserve better.
Here’s why:
- Every young person should have a good quality of life with equal access to creative opportunities and a community of support.
- Young people are being let down by systematic cuts to provision and safe spaces for them to hang out, be creative, and be themselves.
- With the cuts, young people are at higher risk of loneliness, poor mental health and fear of youth violence or exploitation**.
Our young people tell us that our Youth Centre is a “safe haven”, their “second home” and a place to “make a fresh start”, “make friends” and “find freedom”. It’s where we can catch young people at the early stages of something going wrong in their lives, where we can help or protect them from further harm.
Please share our campaign to #SaveOurYouthCentre and help us to show young people in Thanet that they matter, they deserve better, and that their community cares.
Thank you.
Zoë Carassik
Chief Executive Officer, Pie Factory Music
*This figure is an estimate and encompasses the market value of the property plus speculative costs of some major maintenance works that the building requires to make it watertight and improve safety. Costs could change as the process develops.
** 18% of children in Thanet are living in poverty, and the district has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the South East and one of the highest rates of self-harm among young people.