Because we believe that given the right opportunities, support and encouragement at the right time anyone can change their lives for the better. We believe that everyone should have the chance to make the journey from dependence to independence despite the crippling effects of unemployment, and urban degeneration which threaten the future of our children. The work of Valleys Kids is centred in the heart of the Rhondda Valleys, once famous the world over for its coal, its poetry and its passion.

The coal has gone and along with it, the jobs, but the passion and poetry remain, alongside a vibrancy of community spirit typical of these Valleys. The South Wales Valleys now rank amongst the most deprived in Europe. We are committed to making these Valleys work once more in all senses of the word and to reversing the downward spiral of deprivation and decay.

We change people's lives.

1 in 3 children live in poverty

11%, that's 12,000, young people in Wales aged between 16 and 18 years are not engaged in education, training or employment.

Rhondda Cynon Taff has the worst record in Wales with 26% of boys and 13% of girls between 13 - 16 years regularly drinking above the safe limit (12% higher than the UK average).

National Audit of Drug Misuse in Britain 1994 showed a sharp increase in use of drugs in under 18's to 40 % of boy and girls experimenting of which 50% were current users.

In some Valleys communities
Unemployment is 50%
91% of the tenants claim housing benefit.
61% of households have no transport

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