Hello! We’re Pie – a creative youth charity in East Kent.

“We believe in a world where every young person has a good quality of life with equal access to creative opportunities and a community of support”

Pie offers a safe space for young people in Thanet to access life-enhancing opportunities, through youth work, music and arts projects, pastoral care and counselling.

Our innovative free programmes, activities, and events support, encourage and empower almost 1000 under-25s a year to influence their own lives positively. We help them to learn skills, build confidence, be themselves and connect with others.

Everything we do is focused on creating opportunities that lead to progression, employment, and better life chances, especially for those facing challenging life circumstances, so that no young person is left behind and everyone has their voice heard.

Supporting the emotional, physical and social wellbeing is our utmost priority. Young people come first and foremost – we include them in our plans and decisions at every level, responding to their needs.

We have a passionate and committed expert team and we constantly respond to the needs of young people, striving for social justice and inclusion for everyone.

Our 22 years of experience and partnership enables us to specialise in working with young people from challenging circumstances such as those in care, young people with disabilities and those who face emotional and social difficulties.

Interested in what we do?

Our impact 

55,000 young people supported
Through innovative programmes that empower young people to influence their own lives positively.

180,000+ sessions delivered
Providing a safe space for young people to connect, grow, be inspired, be seen, be heard, and be themselves through workshops, projects, activities, events and counselling sessions.

£5.6+ million fundraised for young people
Creating opportunities that lead to progression, employment and better life chances, especially for those facing challenging life circumstances.

Our values

We believe that the way we do things is just as important as what we achieve. Our values are really important to us. We will always be:

Young Person Led – We make space for young people to lead, co-produce and make decisions at every level of our organisation.

Inclusive – We are open to all and commit to breaking down barriers to participation so that everyone feels welcome and has equal access.

Kind – We believe that kindness is an essential part of who we are and we want to model this to everyone we work with.

Creative – We take a creative approach to our work, allowing us to move forwards with openness and innovation.

Collaborative – We’re stronger together and welcome opportunities to collaborate with others.

Brave – We are here to make a difference and will bravely advocate for young people and their needs.

Fun – We believe that it is vital to a healthy organisational culture that fun is at the heart of the way that we work alongside each other.

“What Pie does… it’s pretty much saving people’s lives”

A tribute to Jamie

Our much-loved and long-standing youth worker, Jamie Ferguson, sadly passed away in summer 2022. A parent of one of the young people in Jamie’s sessions put this huge loss into words beautifully: “Jamie was a wonderful person, he will be sadly missed. He touched our lives with the care and support he gave us even when times were hard”. The Pie family misses Jamie hugely. We have honoured Jamie and the impact he made to our Pie family by naming our band room in his memory, commemorated with a plaque on our band room door.

The need:

Top 10% most deprived areas in the country - 21% of neighbourhoods in Thanet are in 10% most deprived areas in England, according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 (IMD 2019).

18% children living in poverty - 18% of children and young people live in absolute low-income families compared to the Kent average of 13% (Kent Analytics).

High rates of self-harm among young people - The rate of hospital admissions caused by unintended and deliberate injuries amongst 15-20 year olds in Thanet is 194 per 10,000, against a national figure of 119 (Public Health Outcomes Framework for 2021-22).

Highest rate of youth unemployment in the South East - 9.9% of 18-24 year olds in Thanet are claiming out of work benefits, compared to the national rate of 5.2% (Isle of Thanet News)

45% cut to our annual budget in 2024 - With the cessation of local authority-commissioned youth services in March 2024, Kent suffered the greatest cuts to its youth sector in over a decade, and we lost 45% of our annual budget.

We aim to provide opportunities that:

Increase young people’s confidence and self-esteem.
Strengthen connections between young people and their communities.
Improve the physical wellbeing of young people.
Improve young people’s foundational skills and technical ability.
Increase the power that young people have to make decisions and effect change.

Our Funders:

Pie Factory Music is a registered charity (number 1097561) that receives the generous support of a range of funders, including:

BBC Children in Need
Colyer-Fergusson Charitable Trust
Dover District Council
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Garfield Weston Foundation
NHS Kent & Medway
Kent Community Foundation
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Ramsgate Town Council
Swire Charitable Trust
Thanet District Council as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
The Philip and Connie Phillips Foundation
Youth Music

With this support, we are able to continue to provide the range of programmes and opportunities for young people in East Kent.

We are a politically neutral non-profit organisation that values and champions social justice and equity for all. Our annual returns are available to view on the Charity Commission website. You can read them here.