FUTUREhope – Hertford and Ware is a free, confidential service working holistically with young people aged 11-19 in the local area.
Our primary goal is to empower young people to have hope for their future and reach their full potential through our three key areas of work.
Our mobile youth centre and purposeful detached work. Aiming to meet young people where they are at.
Working with schools (assemblies and tutor sessions) and through delivery of a range of small group work activities.
Provision of one-to-one work (long term relationships) through mentoring and counselling; and by providing support to parents.
If you would like to learn more about our work, then please explore the website or get in touch with us at the office.
Our Values
We believe that every person is a valuable individual and should be treated with respect regardless of gender, sexuality, race, religion, belief, or ability.
We believe that every young person should have access to free and/or affordable support to help them grow and establish healthy relationships.
We believe that every young person has the right to freedom of choice and therefore has the right to be involved in the decision making process about the programme of help that is offered.
FUTUREhope – Hertford and Ware is governed by a management board and is registered charitable incorporated organisation. (Charity Number: 1186296).
Thanks for all your help – you have really supported me, I don’t know what I would have done without you.
– 18 year old homeless girl
I feel like I’m more open about everything and more confident in myself. I’m more open to talking about my issues.
– 16 year old girl
This group has been really helpful, I now have 2 friends I can trust and get support from.
– 13 year old girl
I didn’t understand how much this could change me as a person.
– 13 year old boy
SERVICES
Mentoring
Each young person is matched and paired with a mentor for support and encouragement.
We use a variety of tools in mentoring to cover topics like anger or money management through to strategies for coping in school/at home.
Over the course of the year our mentors build a strong relationship with their young person. Meetings take place in coffee shops, parks or our office with full parental or school consent.
Time Out For Parents
Over the past few years we have started to run groups for parents. Positive Parenting – Time Out for Parents courses from Care for the Family give common sense, jargon-free information and ideas to help you engage with your children and boost your relationship. We have run coursers focusing on The Teenage Years and also Handling Anger in the Family.
Mobile Youth Centre
We take our mobile youth centre out every Friday night in term time. We alternate between Hartham Common, Hertford and Priory Street, Ware.
We serve hot drinks/biscuits, have a games console and alcohol/drug information. Our team get into great conversations with young people that sometimes leads them into accessing our wider work.
We run summer bus in the holidays and maintain a presence at community events. More recently we have taken it into local schools in lunch time.
Detached
We occasionally go out and walk around Hertford and Ware in detached work – touching base with young people we haven’t seen for a while or meeting new young people and letting them know about FUTUREhope and the support we offer.
Schools
We work in schools providing up-to-date and relevant drug/alcohol education to all years of students, including assemblies and tutor group sessions.
Groups
We offer a range of different group work sessions covering Anger Management, Money Management, Self Esteem, Drugs/Alcohol Education with a Skills Workshop, Smoking Cessastion and many more. We run the groups when we have a group of people wanting to do them! To find out our next batch of group work then please get in touch.
Before you started helping my daughter she was about as far away from me as she could possibly be.
– Mother
Our funding comes from a variety of places. In the past we have received grants from Herts Police Authority Initiatives Fund, the Anchor Foundation, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Hertford Churches Together and Waitrose, as well as from many local churches in Hertford & Ware. Most years we also hold a fundraising event and we are also supported either on a monthly basis or with one-off donations by lots of individuals
These are the ways you can help us …
Donate online
You can also donate to us, both regularly or one-off, online through Stewardship.
Regular Giving
You can support us through regular donations by filling in a standing order form. Please get in touch with us at we will get one to you. Anything from £5 to £500 means that we can plan ahead as we know what we have in the pot!
Volunteering
All our volunteer mentors and youth workers on the bus are drawn from local churches. If you attend a local church and are interested in being a mentor or supporting our bus work, please get in touch.