Where we work

Fairbridge in Kent’s main focus is the Medway towns of Chatham, Strood, Rochester, Gillngham and Rainham. It also has young people referred from across the county including Margate, Thanet, Swale and Tunbridge Wells.

Local area map

Issues our young people face

Bronach Rae, DevelopmentTutor:

“There is a problem of long-term unemployment in the Medway towns. One of the main reasons for this is that the area used to rely on its dockyards for employment. When they all closed twenty years ago, not only did the dock workers lose their jobs, but also the people who worked in the subcontracting industries lost out too. It seemed like everyone was affected.

We now have second and third generation unemployed people. It’s created a culture in which if you have never been given anything, you take whenever you can.

It’s also created a culture in which you are not always encouraged to be clever, have ambition, or have an interest in anything beyond Big Brother. I meet young people all the time who are very bright, but haven’t done very well at school because they were never encouraged to show their intelligence.”

James Dyer, Operations Manager:

"People see Kent as the garden of the south-east but they don’t realise that it does have another side. Tust because you can’t always see deprivation does not mean that it is not there.

As well as all of the usual problems associated with inner city areas like high teenage pregnancy, unemployment and re-offending rates, Kent, and specifically the Medway towns, have the additional problems of housing shortages and social exclusion.

There are a lot of people living here and commuting to London, which has pushed up house prices - leaving some local people harder-off, isolated and more socially deprived.”