Kenilworth Youth Centre Under Threat from Cost-of-Living Expenses
Rayhaan Folarin
Public facilities are feeling the bite of inflation as expenses rise due to the cost-of-living crisis. Community spaces such as The Kenilworth Centre have felt the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, putting their survival under threat as bills rise and income decreases. Over the past year, the centre has collaborated with partners to discuss its “post-pandemic challenges”, according to its 2023 manager report.
The Kenilworth Centre - Nub News
Founded in 2009, the Kenilworth Centre was originally a relocation of the Kenilworth youth club. It is now a community facility in the centre of town, which supports a wide number of community initiatives such as kickboxing, yoga, babysitting, pop-up cinemas and cafes, clothing distribution and many more.
Joint manager, Sarah McCaffrey, who has been working at the centre for over a year, said: “We want to be looking to create a more creative space for Kenilworth.”
The centre is also home to another charity, Compassionate Kenilworth, which helps people suffering from isolation and supports those struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
Ms McCaffrey said: “We deliver a lot of youth activities, including youth club on a Friday night, which is two sessions for juniors and seniors. We also offer support to children at Kenilworth school through mentoring and counselling.”
"On top of that, we work with another charity called compassionate Kenilworth, who are respectively based at the Kenilworth centre. They work with people suffering from isolation, struggling with the cost of living [etc.].”
Businesses can also hire spaces to use in the Kenilworth Centre, such as meeting rooms and group events.
“Since we’ve been here, Becky [Webb] and I have developed a lot of the new programs.” Ms. McCaffrey added.
In the past year and a half, Sarah McCaffrey and Becky Webb have been responsible for creating many of the programs and events that aim to bring the community together. Warm Hubs, for example, is a community space running different activities every week, such as music and dinner - read here for more.
Sarah McCaffrey & Becky Webb - the Kenilworth Centre
Ms McCaffrey said: “If you’re struggling with the cost of living it’s somewhere where you can come and get a hot meal but also there’s music and it’s a social event because it’s not just about people who are struggling financially, it’s also about people who are struggling to find their place in the world or are feeling isolated.”
Despite seeking to help those during the cost-of-living crisis, the Kenilworth Centre is far from resistant to the effects of rising bills. Ms McCaffrey said: “For us as a charity we’ve been impacted ourselves, in terms of the increase in the rise of our utility bills, which has been quite shocking.”
She added: “This time last year we discovered that we had to completely replace the boiler, so we had a few months where we didn’t have any heating.”
As a result, the centre is seeing a reduction in the number of companies that use its space because they are finding alternative venues. Ms McCaffrey went on to add: “It’s those kinds of people that we want to be supporting. So, for us, it’s trying to find a balance of how to support those people, but we’ve also got to maintain our own stability for the future as well.”
She stated: “Whilst our prices are increasing, hugely, we feel that passing it onto the people who are using us, is a very difficult thing for us to balance because they’re struggling as well.
However, according to the joint manager: “We are very lucky to have a lot of support in the community, which is really nice.”
“At the moment, we’re very lucky to have a lot of support in the community, which is really nice. We have a board of trustees working very hard, looking at where we can gain more funding and how we can engage with the local community.” Ms McCaffrey told me.
Trustees such as David Littleford and Dr Mier support their Radio Abbey station, according to their manager’s report. Trustees help to seek out more funding to keep the lights on at the centre, such as fundraising activities that engage with the community. Other methods such as project grants and sponsorship are helping the centre move forward.
When asked why it’s important for the Kenilworth Centre to maintain its standing Ms McCaffrey said: “There is always an issue of young people, when you get to age 13 plus, in the smaller towns, there is a lack of facilities for young people to hang out.”
“You want a list edit of independence, but your parents still weren’t safe spaces for you to go.”
She added: “There was a lot more youth provision 10 to 15 years ago than there is now.”
Kenilworth resident, Sumpa Abbey (18), who has been regularly bringing her 10-year-old sister to the centre told us: “We’ve known about the centre for a while, but a friend of my mum’s told us that her son was having some great experiences at the youth club.”
“We tried to encourage my sister, but she’s quite shy, so I said I would take her and after some push and pull she went on a Friday to the youth club. She ended up making a lot of friends who encouraged her to come, pretty much weekly.
“It’s just a bit of a shame to potentially see it go because it was such a great opportunity for her to come out of her shell.”
If you’re wondering how you can help support the Kenilworth Centre, you can go to the Kenilworth Centre support page on their website. You can also email to arrange a meeting to fund projects you’d like to see.
