Former bank becomes new academy
A SOCIAL enterprise is launching a new academy in a former bank in Caernarfon to invest in vulnerable young people across Gwynedd in the wake of the Coronavirus lockdown.
Charity Gisda is opening the Academi Cyfleon (Opportunities Academy) to give jobless and homeless young adults a muchneeded leg up. Grant support is enabling it to open a vital drop-in and learning centre in the building that used to house the Nat West on the Maes.
Young people will have the chance to gain qualifications in practical subjects such as food hygiene, hospitality, health and safety, gain social media skills and discover outlets to enhance their creativity.
Gisda Chief Executive Officer Sian Tomos said the ground floor will be transformed into a community hub which will help struggling young people get their lives on track in the aftermath of the pandemic.
A second arm of the project will be based in Blaenau Ffestiniog, helping provide a strong safety net of support and advice for at-risk young people aged 16-24 across Gwynedd.
It comes amid growing fears among youth workers and health experts that long term impacts of the Coronavirus lockdown and subsequent easing of restrictions could potentially leave many struggling young people on their knees.
They particularly fear for those in deprived areas where problems of poverty, unemployment and mental health issues are already prevalent.
These problems are likely to be exacerbated as budget-conscious companies axe jobs and streamline workforces to make up for financial losses wreaked by the pandemic.
Plans to convert the bank premises, a few doors away from Gisda’s existing Caernarfon base, have long been in the pipeline but have now been escalated to help counter economic devastation and the threat of job cuts.
This initial pilot scheme has received funding help from the Welsh Council for Voluntary Action, The Steve Morgan Foundation, the European Social Fund and the Community Foundation Wales.
The bank building has lain empty for nearly three years since Nat West closed its Caernarfon branch. But the new funding has paved the way for its conversion into a spacious hub adhering to social distancing rules while offering valuable advice, practical life skills, well-being support, and a tutoring facility in the form of an online ‘virtual college.’
Sian said Gisda is collaborating with Gwynedd Council regarding the development of further youth orientated plans for the building over future years. Among those welcoming the project is talented artist, Zack Robinson, who benefited first hand from Gisda’s acclaimed support network, but who now fears many of his contemporaries may slip by the wayside if hands are not quickly outstretched to help them through one of the most difficult periods in Welsh history. Zack, who works at the Gisda Caffi in Caernarfon, received practical help from Gisda as a teenage care leaver trying to negotiate his way through the demands of adulthood. He now lives independently in Caernarfon, is employed at the cafe and, thanks to support from a Gisda personal adviser has nurtured his talent for art. and is studying towards an arts degree.