Urban youth charity that’s a real gem!

Youth evangelist Dawnie ‘DJ’ Reynolds worked with national organisations across the UK before returning to Stoke-on-Trent and establishing award-winning urban youth charity Ruff & Ruby. She tells how it’s transforming teen lives there as well as at Limitless Festival.

When Dawnie Reynolds met superstar Robbie William’s mum at a Pop Idol event, little did she expect to be inspired to launch a charity. The pair had worked together to organise the event for disadvantaged young people in Stoke-on-Trent. Jan shared Dawnie’s dream of elevating the lives of young people in the city, which has some of the highest poverty and deprivation statistics in the UK.

Dawnie was passionate about working with young people. At that time a support worker at Stoke-on-Trent College for 14- to 18-year-olds with challenging behaviour, she had built vast experience working for national organisations like AoG ACE Teams, Oasis Trust, Soul Survivor and alongside The Message Trust.

Jan inspired Dawnie – who had been dreaming of starting a faith-based youth project and was asking God for the go-ahead – to start a charity; one that would widen her work’s reach in the city and be a counter-cultural offer for young people. Dawnie felt God say, “Do it girl!” so, after chatting with trusted friends, she decided to go for it.

“God said, ‘I want you to create a blueprint for Stoke where you’re influencing culture rather than working in a ‘Christian bubble’ so I set about building relationships with the secular youth scene, the council and the police,” she says.

She began by launching Rubygirl, a work among vulnerable girls based on Proverbs 31:10: “her worth is more than rubies”. Then came Ruff Diamonds for lads, “reflecting that we’re all a work in progress”. Today, they are known as Ruff & Ruby.

Over its 15 years in action, the charity has delivered a large-scale social enterprise inside a shopping centre. It has also been the catalyst for a citywide secular youth collaboration, the Stoke-on-Trent Youth Collective, which includes both of the city’s football clubs and is achieving great things in the youth landscape. Then, at the heart of its work are its multitude of projects – including a brand new app.

“Fresh Perspective” schools support

Many of Ruff & Ruby’s projects aim to promote wellbeing. Among them are the workshops and roadshows it hosts in high schools, covering 20 topics including pornography, self-esteem and misogyny. As Ruff & Ruby workers tackle these subjects, they introduce the Bible.

“We show teens that the Bible has something to say about body image, how you treat women, self-worth and mental health.”

Ruff & Ruby also runs one-to-one mental health programmes to help prevent youth suicide and a mental health course, Worthy, for 11 to 18-year-old girls to promote self-esteem and protect against suicide. “We tell girls how worthy they are and what God says about them,” says Dawnie.

Antidote

Closely tied to its school’s work is one of Ruff & Ruby’s most popular projects – the missional hip hop collective Antidote.

“Antidote are amazing because they have stories of change that relate to young people and they write songs that fit with our workshop themes,” says Dawnie. “Their lives are relatable too – one of our rappers became a Christian after her mum took her own life, so she has lived experience and can share her story.”

The band has helped pioneer a citywide movement for church youth groups in Stoke, Blaze Youth, which is part of an inter-church network for youth leaders. It also connects with kids via Ruff & Ruby’s Sound Advice music studio.

“We have had kids from young offenders or who aren’t attending school. They need mentors and use music to express their anger and emotions.”

Introducing UTH City

Its latest move, in May, was to unveil a new app – UTH City. The app is designed to provide a digital hub for youth engagement in Stoke and to see young Christian entrepreneurs create and sustain an innovative ‘digital home’ to influence the secular youth landscape, says Dawnie. It features links to activities and clubs, citywide events, education, jobs, training, apprenticeships and support services, including mental health services for under-18s.

Dawnie is keen to highlight its suicide-prevention feature – not available anywhere else in the UK. “A young person in mental health crisis can press a button that goes straight to Staffordshire Police, Crisis Care or will send a message to five ‘safe people’ prompting them to check in.”

It’s particularly poignant, she says, because Ruff & Ruby trustee Kay Speedman lost her daughter Caitlin to suicide. “We’ve seen increasing numbers of young people like Caitlin experience suicidal thoughts. Kay says support like this might have saved her. That’s why I believe this will be a lifesaver for a lot of young people.”

Another feature is a newcomers page for young artists to showcase their work. “On social media young people get affected by negative comments, likes or dislikes, so we’re promoting a counter-culture offer which doesn’t define success by your following. We’ve created a place where they can shine and perform without fear of criticism.”

Other features include a “faith in youth” section where young people can be signposted to local Christian youth groups, access national resources like Limitless or Youth Alpha and discover Christian music artists. While Ruff & Ruby pilots the app in Stoke, Dawnie is already planning to develop it. The vision is to present it in parliament then roll it out across the country to benefit every community.

A ‘phase 2’ Young Faith section is also being developed to include signposting to missional gap year options, Bible colleges, mission trip opportunities and more. “That way, it will be of use to every young person – churched or unchurched – but the outreach element will be deepened.”

From Nazareth to Stoke

Longer-term, Dawnie has her sights set on opening a large-scale multiagency youth space and expanding UTH City, but for now she is thrilled with all God is doing through Ruff & Ruby and Blaze Youth.

“It’s amazing. Remember that Bible question – can anything good come out of Nazareth? People say that about Stoke too! We feel humbled and blessed that God is doing great things here.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.