YMCA Wellington

Who we are

Welcome to YMCA Wellington and District. As an independent and distinct organisation, affiliated to YMCA England and Wales, we are part of a global family – the largest youth organisation in the world. YMCA has over 58 million members in 119 countries worldwide. Since it was established in 1844, YMCA has adapted to the changing needs of young people.  Today YMCA works with young men and women regardless of race, religion or culture. In every corner of the world, YMCA is helping young people to build a future.

YMCA Wellington and District is a registered charity and company. The Association was founded in 1859 and from 1920 until the early 1990s was based at Wrekin Buildings in Tan Bank in the centre of town. From there it provided a substantial range of leisure and social facilities for the people of Wellington.  In the early 1990s, we identified an unmet need amongst local young single people with a need for housing and developed a new strategy to address this. This focussed on acquiring and providing suitable accommodation and from that date, this provision has become our core activity. We now have a portfolio of 41 units of accommodation in Wellington for 16-25 year olds who have support needs. Our accommodation is let through the Thrive Telford Partnership, working with Bromford and Maninplace, and also with Stay for Floating Support provision.

A key element of our current work involves the provision of high-level individual support for tenants and assistance with healthy living, life-skills, financial skills, job search, college entry and housing related support.  As Thrive Partners, we also offer floating support to the wider community to anyone aged 16+. We have set up the Holly Project as a peer-support service for survivors of CSE and their families. We also have a trained Freedom Programme facilitator, delivering a domestic abuse information course to women.