Outreach
Welcome to the ACFA Outreach Website
Outreach is the Army Cadet Force's Youth and Community Project.
Since it started in 1994 nearly 9,000 young people, boys and girls, have taken part in the Project.
Outreach seeks to help crime vulnerable as well as socially and educationally disengaged boys and girls become responsible citizens by using team based adventurous and challenging activities to raise their self-esteem, build confidence, and broaden their perspective on what they can achieve with their lives.
The typical age of the Outreach participants is between 12 and 14 years old.
The project is delivered by volunteer adult and cadet members of Army Cadet Force Counties and Battalions. By adapting the ACF's progressive and structured programme of fun, challenging and adventurous activities to the needs of Outreach.
The project takes participants away from their normal environment and gives them a huge dose of positive activity, earned praise, self-belief and personal pride which offers them an attractive alternative to the passing satisfaction of peer notoriety they might have gained earlier from poor behaviour in school or anti-social activity in their community.
Who is Outreach for?
The scheme is completely voluntary for those on the programme. Participants identified as crime vulnerable or socially or educationally disadvantaged are referred to Outreach projects by partner agencies.
Partners tend to be either; local schools, Youth Offending Teams (operated by police and local authorities), Social Services, local community groups or local Police. Typical referral issues are low or no self-esteem, low personal achievement, school or social exclusion, truancy, or challenging behavioural problems.
All the youngsters voluntarily agree to participate in the Outreach project and can leave at anytime, but in reality, few choose to do so.
A well structured and disciplined activity programme is operated through a working partnership with the referring agencies, i.e. the schools, YOT's, police and the ACF adult leaders and cadet directing staff who act as role models. Using experienced cadets gives the vulnerable youngsters a rare glimpse of the positive benefits gained by children of their own age group.
"Without Outreach I would have been a persistent offender or drug addict. The course lifted me from the pit I had found myself in. My family are now proud of me - and so am I"
Outreach Participant
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ACFA Outreach News
Annual Report 2009 now available to view online and download. Read more »