Charitable Objectives
Hope UK - Enabling young people to
make drug-free choice
Persuading people to wear ‘beer goggles’ and walk a white line in the middle of Leicester Square, Embankment Gardens or Tottenham Court Road last May was one method Hope UK Educators used to get people talking about drinking, smoking or illegal drug use. Combined with a challenge to be alcohol-free for 40 days - and plenty of sun - it was successful in helping people to think about their drinking.
UK young people have hit the top of Euro-leagues for drink and drug use and the consequences include rising levels of criminal behaviour, accidents, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Hope UK is a national charity with a Christian foundation that enables young people to make drug and alcohol-free choices and Ansvar has been supporting its work for many years.
With a staff of only 15, Hope UK relies on its 217 Voluntary Drug Educators, trained with a 120-hour course accredited with the Open College Network, to take its drug prevention work to most parts of the UK. More Educators would mean that every community would have access to one – and that is why Hope UK plans to increase Educator numbers to 1,000 by 2011. This will enable the charity to impact the lives of 500,000 children and young people each year.
Besides training and supporting Educators, Hope UK helps parents, youth and family workers and church leaders – in fact, anyone with responsibility for children - to carry out their own drug prevention work.
George Ruston, Executive Director, said, “Ansvar’s support means a great deal to us, especially in the current climate of economic uncertainty.”
