Together4Bristol : Sixty-One Summer Update

Sixty-One Summer Update

We hope that you have enjoyed a really great summer! For many, this week marks the start of a new term. Here at Sixty-One, we too are excited for what this next period has in store for us.

Over the summer, we enjoyed a visit to our offices from Mark Shelford, Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset. We hugely value his interest in our work as we train, equip and enable the community to support people with a conviction and partner with organisations across the city to join up our support.

We are also delighted to have recently secured funding from the National Lottery’s Community Fund in support of our work. We are incredibly grateful for the difference that this will make as we look to increase opportunities for community and connection for people with a conviction.

I cannot overestimate the impact of our volunteers, of our mentors and mentees, of the relationships built, of the communities created through the hubs, of the connections made and maintained and of lives empowered. These are the things that make stepping into something new not only possible but sustainable and, of course, infinitely more enjoyable!

- Elizabeth, CEO Sixty-One

56bf5a77-4491-a5b7-eb80-c4effc

(The Sixty-One team at our recent celebration event)

What a difference 2022 made!

1,600 connections made with serving prisoners, 1,400 Christmas presents delivered to three local prisons, 718 meetings between mentors and mentees, 151 mid-week meetings held by church hubs for people with a conviction and a massive 95.6% reduction in the re-offending rate!

None of this would be possible without the support of our incredible volunteers, partners, church hubs, funders and supporters.

The above is just a snapshot of the work that we do - read our 2022 Impact Report to find out all about the work carried out by our volunteers and partnership projects. It's an inspiring read!

Click here to read our full 2022 Impact Report

Summer Celebration

We held our fourth annual Summer Celebration meal at the end of August – an opportunity to come together and celebrate our incredible mentors and mentees. We were honoured to have Changing Tunes, one of our partner organisations, with us on the evening providing musical entertainment and opportunity for some of our mentees and team to get up and sing and share a spoken word on the night. We are so grateful to everyone who came along and who made the night a such a great success

b20d0b80-393b-0a9e-1838-41972a

Mentoring Taster Event
12th September 7pm-8pm

Our volunteer mentors are ordinary people making an extraordinary difference to people who have a criminal conviction.

Are you part of a local church?
Could you give your time to support someone through mentoring?

Why not come along to a taster evening for a chance to meet some of our volunteer mentors
and mentees ...

You’ll get answers to questions like:

• What is the role of a mentor?
• What does the training involve?
• What difference can mentoring really make?
• What qualifies me to mentor someone with a criminal history?
• What's the time commitment?
• How am I kept safe and supported?
• What issues might I come across?

Taster evening on Tuesday 12th September, 7 pm - 8 pm venue St Agnes Church, Thomas Street,
BS2 9LL

If you would like to come along, please email info@sixty-one.org asap to reserve a place.

We’d love to see you!

Know already that you'd like to sign up to our five-part training course? You can find all the dates of our October training course on our website along with details of how to register.

5e0a725b-998d-a0d2-22e5-d54241

Please Pray

Please pray for our planning for the future as we reflect on how we can best support people with a criminal conviction.

Please pray for new mentors and mentees starting out on their mentoring journey

Please pray for our partner hubs as they provide such valuable places of mid-week connection for people with a conviction

_{Posted: September 2023}