KEY South Tyneside charity earns ‘Investors in People’ status

KEY Project, supported by South Tyneside Churches, is a local charity providing a range of housing advice, support, and accommodation services to young people at risk of homelessness and/or experiencing hardship.

As well as preventing youth homelessness, the charity gives young people the support, knowledge and confidence they need to live independently, and helps them realise their full potential through education, employment, or training.

In 2019 the charity supported 500 young people and kept 180 families together through its Family Intervention and Reconnect Service.

The charity also founded the partnership which delivers the KEY2Life food bank, the longest established food bank in South Tyneside. This plays a crucial role in supporting some of the most vulnerable and deprived people in the community.

KEY makes sure its principles and practices which support people are in place; and everyone understands how to use them to make work better.

The charity’s trustees, staff and volunteers are all local people who are committed to changing lives for the better in their community. They take special interest in the young people and families they support.

Jo Benham Brown, business development and communities manager at KEY Project, said: “Our people are our most valuable commodity.

"We have a highly qualified, skilled, knowledgeable and experienced team renowned for delivering a first-class service and always ‘going the extra mile’, amply demonstrated during this last year in lockdown.”

“We are elated to be accredited with We Invest in People, which is testament to the hard work and commitment of the entire KEY team.

“The award has provided a huge sense of achievement to all our staff and we confidently move forward on our journey of continuous improvement striving to be the best in our sector.”

Paul Devoy, CEO of Investors in People, said: “We’d like to congratulate KEY Project. Being accredited with We Invest in People is a remarkable effort for any organisation, and places KEY Project in fine company with a host of organisations that understand the value of people.”

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