Here for Good: Our 5 Year Strategy

As YMCA South Midlands, we are building on decades of experience supporting young people across Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire.

Over the next five years, we will expand our reach across the South Midlands through six ambitious priorities.

Replicate our campus model

Our Central Milton Keynes campus has transformed what supported housing can offer. It combines high-quality accommodation with trauma-informed support, mental health services and a staged pathway into employment and independent living.

We now plan to create a second campus in Northampton. We have identified a preferred site and submitted a bid for the land. If successful, the new campus could help up to 100 young people each year move out of homelessness and towards secure employment.

Grow our education offer

Our youth work and mentoring services have shown us that mainstream education is not meeting the needs of many children and young people.

More than 500,000 pupils have an Education, Health and Care Plan, while a further 1.4 million are recognised as having special educational needs without one. Too many experience school as a distressing or unsuitable environment.

We will develop high-quality, sustainable education settings built around our trauma-informed, strengths-based and aspirational approach—helping more young people learn, thrive and fulfil their potential.

Launch accommodation for 16–17-year-olds

Children and young people in care do not always have access to the right accommodation, in the right place, with the right support. Some are moved far from their communities, leaving them isolated and more vulnerable to exploitation and harm.

We are registering with Ofsted and will launch our first accommodation for 16- and 17-year-olds. This will provide a safe, supportive home and create a pathway into our campus services from the age of 18.

Increase quality, affordable homes

Our campus helps young people move out of homelessness and into employment—but finding an affordable home afterwards remains a major challenge.

Home ownership is beyond the reach of many, while private rents and deposits consume most of a young person’s income. For those who cannot return to a family home, the options are especially limited.

We will continue developing quality, affordable homes exclusively for employed young people. We are in advanced negotiations to acquire two sites—one near Central Milton Keynes and one in Bletchley—with the potential to create 90 homes. These would add to the 38 newly built properties we purchased in 2025.

We are also helping lead a national YMCA campaign to build 10,000 homes for young people across the country.

Strengthen income and sustainability

Our ambition is significant, but growth must be responsible and sustainable.

“Here for Good” reflects both our commitment to creating positive change and our determination to remain here for the long term. We will strengthen our income, grow community support and protect the services we have already created.

We cannot achieve these plans alone. Support from individuals, businesses, partners and the wider community will be essential.

Regular Giving

Be the youth voice

Young people are not simply the future—they are part of the present and must help shape the solutions to the challenges they face.

As part of the world’s oldest and largest youth charity, YMCA South Midlands will create opportunities for young people to set the agenda, speak about the issues that matter to them and lead positive change.

We will promote active citizenship, amplify young people’s voices and help them develop the confidence and agency to make a difference.