A youth group leader has called for more funding from the Government and local councils as she single-handedly supports vulnerable girls in Rotherham.
Michelle Roberts, 48, started ‘Rise Up’ after her work at a hostel highlighted a lack of personal development groups for young women.
She said: “I was working at Rush House and was allocated a young girl, absolute cracking looking, brilliant personality, had everything going for her.
“But she went missing for days and when she came back, she’d been with men, just basically being used. I was trying to find groups we could join to build her self-confidence and there was literally nothing out there.
“So I thought, right. I’m going to put something out there myself.”
Rise Up helps young girls, aged 14-21, to improve their confidence and self-esteem, gain qualifications, and keep themselves safe.
Michelle said: “I basically wrote a six-week course, which then became an eight-week course, and we quickly outgrew the room at Rush.
“I went to the management and asked if I could take it out into the community because there’s a need for it.
“A 14-year-old girl came to me, refused to go to school because of bullying. I was apprehensive at first, but she came on day one and she’s still here one year later.
“She’s actually done a mentoring qualification and she’s now on the panel for Children’s Capital of Culture.“
The “one-of-a-kind” group sees on average six to nine girls every Monday evening, who can study for entry-level, AQA-accredited qualifications to support their CVs.
Michelle says her “amazing and rewarding” work is difficult to do on her own.
“I’ve recently lost my job. I have no income until the end of April. At the moment I’m just begging on Facebook for craft materials, paper, and resources.
“The Government and local councils need to be putting more into youth services. The stuff I do is back-to-basics youth work, and there’s none of that around anymore.”
Local authorities spent 64% less on youth services between 2011 and 2021, from £947 million down to £341 million.
“Local councils should invest. The amount of money they plough into dealing with missing girls and CSE stuff – prevent it. Do the work first so we don’t have to deal with it now.”
Rotherham Council was approached for a comment but have yet to respond.