The Royal Visit
On September 19th 2023 to celebrate our 22nd Anniversary and mark the opening of our EpiCentre provided by Unite Students at their flagship accommodation building in east London. we were most fortunate to host a visit from HRH Catherine, Princess of Wales following a trip she made with her husband HRH William, Prince of Wales to Boston as part of the Earthshot Prize. As part of their international visit they went to see the pioneering work of one of our longstanding and loyal international partners.
During her royal visit to Streets of Growth The Princess really took the time to speak to staff to learn about our work and our approach, and sat in on a programme with young people to better understand the realities and challenges they face and how they feel Streets of Growth have supported them in their own transformations. The princess was particularly interested in how their mental health was affected by their circumstances.
Upon her royal visit to us HRH The Princess of Wales explained that, "Streets of Growth's model of approach should be the length and breadth of the country."
Since the royal visit, the global media coverage really shone a spotlight on our often hidden ground-breaking work and as part of our 2030 vision we hope this high profile visit, together with our new home with Unite Students will enable our charity to secure longer term funding meet our young clients’ need for intensive longer-term support. It will also mean we can reach even more young people who need a more bespoke system of intervention and programming.
Darren said of the princess: “It was an incredible honour to meet Kate and to showcase the remarkable work of our charity. Her visit gave a real boost to the staff and our young clients and to see that Her Royal Highness was genuinely affected by what she heard, and her interest was tangible. Kate really understood and advocated that you have to know and understand people's backstory. She appreciated the link between her work in early years development and how adverse effects can be felt in the lives of teenagers and young adults later.
The Princess spoke to some mothers and daughters who had been coached and supported by the charity. She was shown some of the creative workshops and enterprises that families engaged with and set up, which had helped to increase their confidence and enhance family relationships.
The Princess
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“A pleasure to visit Streets of Growth in East London, a game-changing charity which supports young people to transform their lives in the face of adversity. Their work is inspired by the fantastic approach of Roca Inc in Boston.” Her Royal Highness also explained, “The problem is that so many young people don’t have access to services like this. We need to scale it up.”
Her team wrote of behalf of Kate. “It was great to meet some of the young people and communities, and those working with them, to see how they are flourishing under the charity’s programmes.” Within one hour, the post had accrued over 16,000 likes from royal fans and went viral within twenty- four hours.