Crawley school impresses West Sussex Youth Cabinet as they aim to remove the stigma surrounding homelessness

A Crawley school impresses the West Sussex Youth Cabinet as they aim to remove the stigma surrounding homelessness.
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A group of Youth Cabinet members voted in the largest youth consultation in the country and homelessness was raised as one of the main issues.

The Youth Cabinet believes everyone should have somewhere to live and according to the cabinet: “This is something most people would agree with and yet there’s still negative stigma around homelessness.

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“Homeless people are very aware of this attitude that the general public has and many cite it as a huge reason why they felt so isolated and suffered with mental health issues.

Gatwick School raising money for homeless charities in West SussexGatwick School raising money for homeless charities in West Sussex
Gatwick School raising money for homeless charities in West Sussex

“More than one in three people sleeping on the streets have been hit, kicked or experienced violence

“Just under half of homeless service users internalised the negative judgements of others and felt that they didn’t deserve help. This was particularly the case for women, many of whom had escaped abusive relationships.”

So the Youth Cabinet came together to create our Homelessness Campaign with two main objectives: breaking the stigma and fundraising.

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West Sussex is home to many homeless charities including: Turning Tides, Four Streets Chichester, Crawley Open House etc.

Students learning about homelessnessStudents learning about homelessness
Students learning about homelessness

The Youth Cabinet members wanted to highlight the charities efforts as well as support them with fundraising. The students contacted schools across West Sussex encouraging them to host non-school uniform days for donations.

Youth Cabinet’s homelessness campaign and Vice Chair Anah Zakeer said: “ We were thrilled with the outcome and wanted to shout out two in particular.

“Burgess Hill Girls raised the most money from an individual school: £935 in total!

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“And the Gatwick School who went above and beyond, hosting two separate fundraisers for Crawley Open House that went over a few days each with innovative, exciting ways to fundraise and engage their students including a red snack sale, a secret admirer cupcake sale and karaoke! “

Students raising moneyStudents raising money
Students raising money

The Youth Cabinet would like readers to consider donating to one of the charities mentioned but more importantly, show kindness to all, especially those with less fortunate living conditions than us.

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