In a statement issued to CYP Now, the board of RECLAIM said it was with “heavy hearts” that the charity, which was established in 2010 to enable young people from the region's most disadvantaged communities to engage directly with the decision makers influencing their lives, will close on 31 May 2025.
No reason for the closure was given in the statement, but 18-months ago the Manchester-based charity launched an emergency fundraising campaign and in its five-year strategic plan launched last October it highlighted the need to find new revenue streams amid the challenging funding landscape for youth work organisations.
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According to the RECLAIM website, the charity employs nine people including youth workers delivering short-term projects and multi-year programmes across Manchester and the North West.
Programmes include Young Policy Makers, which supports young people from Bolton and Leigh to campaign for policy change both locally and nationally; Our Space which aims to create accessible public spaces; and Keeping Young People and Children Safe, which aims to create safer youth services across Greater Manchester.
In its statement, the RECLAIM board said: “Work has been ongoing internally for some time to put into place arrangements for the continuation of support to the young people RECLAIM works with. In parallel, discussions to secure RECLAIM’s legacy, including agreeing a plan to consult with past and present young people involved with RECLAIM have been ongoing too.
“We have worked incredibly hard to find other alternatives to closure, including exploring a number of merger options. However, none have been able to identify funding which would allow us to employ staff or continue operating as an organisation beyond 31 May 2025.”
The statement also said the board had been “carefully considering” how it shared the news to minimise the impact on young people but had been forced to make the announcement now “in a reactive way… due to incorrect information that is being shared online”.
In an open letter posted online earlier this week alumni of RECLAIM said they were “deeply saddened and frustrated by the decision” to close the charity next month and claimed that other options, including a merger with a school run by RECLAIM founder Ruth Ibegbuna, should be pursued.
It states: “RECLAIM has stood as a beacon of working-class leadership, justice and community for a decade and a half. It has empowered us to lead with confidence, speak truth to power and reimagine what our cities, schools and futures can look like. Its closure would not only mark the end of an organisation but the silencing of a vital and powerful movement.
“We urge the Board to reconsider this decision. There is another way forward.”
The statement added that a merger with the Rekindle School is backed by the alumni network and could enable some staff to continue in their roles until at least August.
“To close RECLAIM despite a lifeline offered by its community - powerful, interested and engaged - would be to turn away from the values RECLAIM stands for: youth leadership, community and hope,” the statement added.
RECLAIM was awarded £100,000 from the Act for Change Fund in January 2020 to deliver a youth-led campaign to tackle discrimination and inequality.
