Thousands of families in Manchester are set to benefit from three brand-new Family Hubs that will offer support to families and young people through to early adulthood in a bid to help them thrive.
The first of the hubs, launched on Tuesday 27 June in Longsight, and will soon be followed by Woodville Hub in Cheetham which opens next week on 4 July, and Wythenshawe Hub's opening to follow later in July.
These hubs aim to ensure assistance to the more than 136,000 young people aged 0-19 in Manchester and that their families get the support they need, at the time they need it, from birth through to adulthood.
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Unlike Sure Start Centres, which primarily serve younger children, those supported by the hubs will vary in age from pre-birth through the infant and toddler stages, all the way up to the age of 19 years, or up to the age of 25 for young adults with special needs.
The hubs were established to provide access to a wide range of services to assist families in navigating all aspects of family life, including health issues such as infant feeding, mental health support, and quitting smoking, as well as building better relationships, accessing school and education support, and providing advice on jobs, skills training, and next steps post-18.
Manchester was chosen earlier this year as one of 14 national trailblazer regions to receive more funding from the government's Family Hubs and Start for Life programme to accelerate delivery of these new services.
The family hubs are part of a larger five-year action plan called Making Manchester Fairer, which aims to address disparities in the city that can begin early in life and even affect how long people live, as well as their opportunities for jobs and housing. The strategy also includes efforts to address the cost of living pressures and poverty, both of which are critical to promoting health and well-being.
Councillor Garry Bridges, Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People, Manchester City Council, said: "All the evidence shows that strong, supportive families make for more stable communities and happier individuals - which is exactly what we want for Manchester.
"Investing in our families and making sure they can get the support they need easily from birth through to adulthood is a vital part of this. The family hubs will help us take this work to the next stage and very much build on what we already do around early help and family help, and also through our network of sure start centres.
"Having all this support in one place is a win-win, with the hubs a one-stop-shop based in the community which families can go to for face-to-face advice and additional support when they need it."
