To The Family of Ben Kinsella

29^th June 2008
It was with the deepest sorrow and regret that we received news of Ben’s death and the thoughts of all the staff and young people from Prospex are with his family. Ben was a very likeable young man with his whole life ahead of him. To have that taken away from him and his family in such tragic and unnecessary circumstances left us all stunned. Our thoughts are with Ben’s family and friends at this very sad time.

Dear Supporters,

Exciting times are ahead here at Prospex…. I hope that you have all read the updates over the past few weeks. Here is what has been happening in and around Prospex in June…..

Prospex Detached

We have spent some time this month evaluating our detached work, through which we make our initial contacts with the young people on the local estates. We looked at where and how we work and who we are working with. The results have led us to re-define the boundaries of our work. We have split it into three zones and must now dream about what we would like to do, if funding allowed. The next stage is to make contact with all the youth and community providers in the area to see how we can work in partnership.

Our plan then is to build a regular team of sessional workers to work in all three zones. We are also looking to have Prospex T shirts / jackets so that everyone will know who we are and to raise our visibility.

We have also realised that the word ‘detached’ doesn’t mean a great deal to most people so we are looking for a new name which fits both the format ‘Prospex …….’ and which clearly conveys the type of work and the work stream. Please put your thinking caps on and send your suggestions to info@prospex.org.

Prospex Life

We are just coming to the end of our second Prospex Life personal development course with Holloway School and it has been really encouraging. The eight young people attending have told us that they have found the sessions really helpful. The residential for the course is this coming weekend so we will give a fuller report in the next update.

We have some other groups showing interest in the course and if that firms up we will need to look for staff to help us run them.

Prospex Works

Two of our young people who have had work experience in the Crowne Plazza as Commis Chefs have applied to 15 (the Jamie Oliver initiative) for an apprenticeship . One has already been short listed for the next stage so watch this space.

We have just won some funding for three years that will enable us to set up workshops that will offer accredited qualifications and for six young people to set up a business (with help and training with the skills they have learnt). The plan for the first year is to develop the flowerbox project but also pyography (the art of burning patterns into wood). Watch this space for more news soon.

Prospex Families

We continue to make applications to organisations to fund this extremely important work stream, in order to employ a Family Worker.

We will keep you updated on our progress and hope that some money will roll in……

Prospex Xtra

The Thornhill Bridge project started on the 26^th June. This art project will transform the Thornhill Bridge over the canal using laser cut art into galvanised steel. This is a joint project with Thornhill Bridge Gardeners and we are employing the invaluable skills of artist Rob Pepper.

The young people are working with Rob to create four panels for the bridge.

The first session saw young people learning sketching skills. They drew each other by looking at their books; by not looking at their books; and then by limiting the number of lines they could use. It was a great start with lots of laughter.  The project will use many different media to lead to the end result. All the young people left with homework to take photos of things they don’t normally notice in the area.

Maxine and a group of our older girls met with N1 television which is currently producing a documentary, which is due to air in late August, as part of a feminist season on Channel 4. It intends to explore and examine the developing relationship that women have with their bodies and more specifically with their genitalia.

Other Items

Beef, who is a self confessed blogger, has started a Prospex Blog where he will share what is going on, reflect on our work and current youth issues and pose questions. We would love you to join in the conversation by using the comments.

You can find the blog at http://www.theprospexblog.blogspot.com/

We would like to extend our thanks to Ray Esnard and the DART (Drug Action Response Team) and the ART (Area Response Teams) for helping Prospex with some of its projects over the past few months.

They have assisted us in collecting much needed furniture for our Drop-In Centre. They have also worked with us in donating dumped wooden pallets from around the area for our young people to recycle. Our young people have been able to make some fantastic flowerboxes for the Centre from the pallets and are also looking at selling some.

The DART TEAM has been on hand to offer advice regarding drug litter and what we should do should we come across any. Only the other day, they visited our local church and removed needles from the grounds. They then contacted an outreach team to visit the area to engage people who might need their services.

The Prospex Team and young people would like to thank them for all their hard work over the past few months. This team is truly a credit to Islington Council.

“Who Am I”

This month “Who Am I” features Stephanie Conder (fundraising volunteer)

“In my former life I was a solicitor but I am currently pursuing the career of mother, chief cook and bottle washer. I was a founding Trustee of Prospex as well as a volunteer dealing at that time with its finances and fundraising. After a break to bring up the children I am now back at Prospex as volunteer fundraiser and am loving it!

I now live in Hammersmith, in West London, so come into Prospex once a week and then do the rest of the work at home in the week.

I have a husband, Jon, and two children, Christopher aged 15 and Rachel aged 12. The children have grown up with Prospex in the background and all the family are highly supportive of its work.

Lastly and very importantly we would to thank Matt Calvert. Matt was the founder and originator of Prospex and its vision for helping young people. It was his leadership which created and delivered Prospex to the point where we find ourselves today. Many, many young people owe a huge debt of gratitude to Matt who has enabled them to turn their lives around. It is through his legacy here that you can see the extraordinary effect and influence that can be achieved by an uncompromising commitment to a life cause.

We wish Matt great success in his new venture and look forward to a continuing interest from him as we move into a new chapter.

The Prospex Team & Young People.

Prospex Drop-In Centre

Opening Hours - July 2008

Monday	AM: Individual Support Sessions PM: Detached or Open Evening 6pm - 8pm
Tuesday	AM: Individual Support Sessions PM: Drop-In 3pm - 5pm
Wednesday	AM: Individual Support Sessions PM: Drop-In 3pm - 5pm
Thursday	AM: Individual Support Sessions PM: Boston Club Naylor Hall 7pm - 8.30pm
Friday	AM: Individual Support Sessions PM: Detached or Open Evening 6pm - 10pm