Timeline
20s
20s
Humanity explodes into a new decade. The COVID-19 pandemic tears across earth, killing millions of people, locking us in our homes, and putting community endurance to its greatest test in generations.
By mid-April 2020 we suspend all in-person services, except our Residential Services, which continue to provide shelter for the homeless. However this does not stop YMCA Malta from doing everything it can to continue serving the community. We also see many Maltese people step up and offer both material and immaterial support to the alarming number of people suffering from compounding emotional and financial hardships.
‘Let the Sunshine In’ (June 2020)
Seeking to expand our online services during the pandemic, we team up with ‘Listenin to You Online Psychotherapy Malta‘ to host 7 online discussions on various wellbeing topics with qualified professionals.
#BLM (2020)
George Floyd is murdered in Minnesota on May 25 2020 and protests erupt across the globe. At YMCA Malta, Black volunteer Beauty Ekator tries to process the pain and horror unleashed by such brutality. She writes a poem––‘Look At Me’––which is turned into a video piece by our Creativity Department.
‘YMCA’s Actions During COVID-19’ (June 2020)
YMCA Malta is honoured when YMCA Europe asks us to create a video clip for the opening of the 2020 General Assembly. We present the numerous initiatives that we launch during this period and serve as inspiration for local Y movements around the world to keep fighting for their causes.
Platform Against Homelessness (2020)
The Platform Against Homelessness is established as a working coalition between YMCA Malta and 21 other Maltese social work and charitable organisations. Platform members meet periodically to partake in round-table discussions with one objective in mind: the eradication of homelessness and rooflessness in Malta. At present there are 14 active platform members.
Loneliness Response Line (March 2020)
A 24/7 Loneliness Response Line is launched on March 23, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The immediate need for this helpline is the sheer number of people experiencing immense loneliness due to the prevention measures imposed by the authorities. In 2020, 903 individuals are supported: 434 claim loneliness and anxiety; 196 family issues & domestic violence; 124 claim mental health issues. Over 2,400 calls are answered by the time this programme is closed in 2022.
Videos – Top to Bottom: Two of the seven online ‘Let the Sunshine In’ discussions, co-hosted by ‘Listenin to You Online Psychotherapy Malta’ (June 2020): YMCA Malta’s Beauty Ekator’s poem is turned into a video narrative (June 2020): YMCA Malta is honoured by YMCA Europe who asks us to create a video clip for the opening of the 2020 General Assembly. ‘YMCA’s Actions During COVID-19’ presents the numerous initiatives that we launch during this period and serve as inspiration for local Y movements around the world to keep fighting for their causes (June 2020)
Video: Posted on our social channels, this clip advertises the Loneliness Response Line, encouraging those in the community experiencing loneliness to either Skype or call with our team of professionals (April 2020)
Online Art Auction (Nov 2020)
Now and forever YMCA Malta will work for the empowerment of young people. Education and community participation is the best medicine; imbuing young people with a sense of belonging, self-care and empathy for their fellow human builds a solid foundation for vibrant, diverse and healthy future communities, here and around the world!
Y’EXPLORE
In 2020 we carry out a series of five workshops on ‘healthy masculinities’ with male youths where discussions explore gender roles, toxic masculinity, and respectful attitudes towards women. The success of this project morphs into Y’EXPLORE, an ongoing Summer programme for young people of all genders. This project is first funded by the Ministry for Justice, Equality, and Governance through the Achievers Scheme. It is currently funded by Aġenzija Żgħażagħ and APS Bank.
Prevention Programme
The beginning of this decade continues our Informal Youth Education as part of our Prevention Programme. We are present in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across Malta, sharing most practical kind of hands-on learning possible in the social care sector. These interactive classroom talks, workshops and other engaging activities, help educate youth on the often parallel reality happening in their very own neighbourhoods.
‘Let’s Talk About…’ (2021)
We create educational mental health material for youth that is distributed through the Ministry of Education. These ‘Let’s Talk About…’ series explore in depth a particular topic relevant to the mental wellbeing of young people. The first edition is published in 2021: ‘Bullying and Mental Wellbeing’
YMCA Leadership Academies
This decade sees us continue participating annually in these exciting youth-led events from YMCA Europe, each time on a freshly chosen theme designed to help participants become tomorrow’s enlightened local community and national leaders. The Academy is carried out exclusively online in 2021 due to the pandemic.
Dram’Abilities (2022)
Funded by the Ministry for Inclusion, Social Wellbeing, and Voluntary Organisations through the Freedom to Live Community Grand Scheme 2021, Dram’Abilities works with a group of 20 young neurodivergent and neurodiverse people to prepare a live Christmas performance, that will also be filmed for posterity.16 workshops are carried out over the course of the year with our youth work Instructors, offering these young people a vital opportunity to show the world their too often unseen talents, passion and joy. The ensuing musical ‘A Unique Christmas Gift’ is attended by 80 people.
Youth Media Lab (2020)
First launched in 2020 thanks to generous funding from Argus Group, the Lab offers young people opportunities to gain training in media production equipment including cameras, lighting, audio, and image/sound editing software. As part of their learning trajectory, participants produce a video project of their choice from scratch – be it narrative, interview, documentary, etc. The overall scope of this project is to encourage and enable young people to amplify their voices by producing media-based advocacy campaigns themselves.
Youth Legal Advice Services (2021)
Following on from the 2021 YMCA Leadership Academy, YMCA Malta’s Youth Empowerment team launch ongoing project ‘Youth Legal Advice Services’. First funded by the European Youth Foundation, its goal is to provide legal support to youth in crisis situations who, due to long waiting lists and the costs of private firms, would otherwise have nowhere else to turn.
The project specifically caters to young people not in employment, education, nor training, and those with lower-income jobs. In 2021 the project is endorsed by the Ministry of Justice and the University of Malta, allowing us to have law students offer this service under constant supervision of their fully qualified law tutor.
Videos – Above & Right: Two podcasts from the 13 produced for My Voice to Europe (2024)
My Voice to Europe (2024)
This 3-year project by Erasmus+ seeks to engage young people in taking ownership of European democracies by engaging them first in research, and then offering a direct audience with MEPs and MEP candidates. A Civil Youth Forum launches the project here and is attended by Maltese social justice organisations. They support our core group of youths in their research, sharing their invaluable field experience gained by working in the public sector.
The findings are hammered into a series of 13 podcasts. On May 11 2024, with little less than a month before EU Elections, we host a conference at Valletta Design Cluster, with local MEP and MEP candidates in attendance to hear for themselves what these youths have uncovered about the aspirations of their peers in Malta.
Y’EXPLORE in Gozo (2022)
YMCA Malta is a household name after almost 50 years active on the islands, respected by many Maltese for the work we do for the community. We are forever appealing to public for support in two forms: material, as financial contributions and essential item donations; and intangible, in the form of their attention.
Our work not only practically supports those in need, but advocates on their behalf in the public forum; we let the voiceless speak to society.
Doris Cusen’s Fund (March 2021)
To commemorate International Women’s Day 2021, YMCA Malta launches the Doris Cusens Fund to provide vulnerable individuals and families referred to the Y by social workers with financial support and other material support. The fund builds on the philanthropic work of Doris Cusens, a longtime ally of YMCA Malta.
Video: A Maltese talkshow ‘Cup of Tea’ interviews YMCA Malta CEO Anthony Camilleri on the social reasons behind the need for the SoliDARjeta Telethon, the services YMCA Malta provides, and how to support the cause.
SoliDARjeta
YMCA Malta hosts a major fundraising event aptly titled SoliDARjeta for the first time in 2021. ‘Dar’ means ‘home’ in Maltese and this name is chosen as it fosters a sense of solidarity amongst Maltese in fighting poverty and homelessness together.
This 12–hour televised fundraising marathon is screened on all Maltese TV stations on the 30th May 2021, between noon and midnight. In total €225,028 is raised in 2021. In 2023 the Marathon runs again and raises €194,000. These very generous sums funds the following projects/services:
Our ongoing Residential Services, which provide emergency shelter for 52 individuals, including families with young children.
The provision of apartments with reduced rent for those who have experienced homelessness and are transitioning back to independent living in the community.
Our ongoing Psychotherapeutic Services for those experiencing homelessness/rooflessness.
Charity & Vintage Shop (2020)
In February 2020 we launch a Charity & Vintage Shop in Żabbar. The concept of this social business venture is to financially support YMCA Malta through the generation of funds selling second-hand donated items. It is mainly operated by volunteers, providing hands-on experience and training to both local students and international interns.
This enterprise provides essential items at a significantly reduced price, or free of charge to community members who are experiencing poverty or other tribulations, permitting them to purchase items they couldn’t with full-price-retail.
Ego Sum (2023)
Our major awareness campaign of 2023, Ego Sum seeks to debunk stereotypes around homelessness and rooflessness in Malta. This multi-venue exhibition is partly funded by Art Council Malta and elevates 36 individual definitions of self into a collective experience that transcends the sum of its parts. The exhibition runs for four weeks in Old Bakery Street in Valletta with YMCA Malta present to answer questions directly from the public. An online version of the exhibition is available here.
TVM1 Appearances
As part of our Psychotherapeutic Services, Dorianne Rotin––counsellor and Wellbeing Programme Coordinator at YMCA Malta––hosts a monthly segment on the programme Ta’ Filgħodu on TVM1. Each month from September 2021 through May 2022, a different topic is explored. These include: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Support Young People’s Wellbeing, and Families’ Wellbeing in the Community. This platform offers YMCA Malta the chance to bring its Psychotherapeutic Services directly into people’s homes and places of business.
Behind the Unspoken (2023)
This decade sees us expanding our services to new corners of Malta. Specialised service centres are launched, each delivering tailor-made projects and programmes for our key target demographics in the homeless, and youth populations. We reorganise ourselves better internally as well, streamlining our work into specific threads that come together to achieve our mission for a more just society.
‘Towards 2025’ (2020)
In order to sustain the Four Pillars of our work, our second strategic five-year plan organises YMCA Malta internally into different departments each facilitating our four Services, or Pillars: Prevention, Outreach, Residential, and Community & Aftercare. These are chosen as they represent the service life-cycle of our clients, and each has a specific focus on homelessness, youth & families.
YMCA Social Services Hub (2022)
To breathe new life into our Community & Aftercare service, the Government-funded Social Causes Fund helps us open the YMCA Social Services Hub (YSS Hub). Commencing operations first in in 2022, the Hub serves as the location for Generic Youth Work, and Generic Social Work.
Both of these umbrella categories streamline the previous, individual work of the Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP!), Youth Work, as well as various Community & Aftercare Services provided by our social workers. All activities at the YMCA Social Services Hub in Msida eventually migrate across to our main premises in Valletta and the Hub moves to Ħamrun. In May 2023, this project is re-launched as the YMCA Drop-in Centre.
Ħamrun Drop-in Centre (May 2023)
This project is born from the imperative to still provide essential care to those who could otherwise not be accommodated due to shelter overcapacity. Research is carried out by YMCA Malta between 2018-2022 and indicates that overburdened shelters are overwhelmingly the reason we cannot accept cases being referred to us.
The Drop-in Centre thus marks the bridge between immediate, crucial care, and longer-term placement in one of our shelters. Beginning operations in May 2023, it provides free, self-service laundry, bathing and cooking facilities, as well as access to lockers, internet and clothing and linen donations. The Centre also acts as a vital link between service users and professional social and youth workers.
Y Communal Home (2020)
Y Communal Home (YCH) is launched in 2020 in the former premises of the YMCA Youth Hostel after COVID-19 forces us to close down that project. YMCA Malta proactively re-opens the facility as a second homeless shelter, providing semi-independent living with the supportive multi-faceted care trajectory: ‘Program Kisbet Serħan’.
The initial purpose of this shelter is to prevent families directly hit by financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic from ending up on the street. Y Communal Home provides communal accommodation to individuals and families in a bid to reduce loneliness whilst also encouraging independent living. The residence caters for up to 16 individuals who do not live under 24-hour staff/volunteer monitoring.
YMCA Family Centre (March 2022)
We open a new centre in Ta’ Xbiex with an eye to supporting all kinds of families, and especially those from disadvantaged communities. This centre operates with a community-based framework.
‘Dar Simon Soler’ Acquires Funding (2020)
In 2020, YMCA Malta applies for the second edition of the ‘Sustainable Communities Initiative Fund’ —an initiative organised by the Ministry for Social Accommodation in collaboration with Housing Authority and funded through the Specialised Housing Programme Fund. YMCA Malta is awarded a ‘Palazzo’ and €350,000 funding to be able to refurbish it in order to start providing residential services for homeless individuals and families 60+ as well as other individuals living with a disability who require modifications to their environment. It is slated to open in 2025.
Launch of Homeless Human Evolution (2023)
YMCA Malta will turn half a century in a few short years. A wise woman once told us: ‘I am 90 years old, and i’m still learning….’ In fact, we none of us ever stop. This decade, and every that may come after, will continue the sharpening of our individual and collective minds; informing all we do for our clients, forever.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Quality of Life in Malta (2021)
YMCA Malta collaborates with 4 local warranted Psychotherapists to further understand the impact of COVID-19 on the community at large. The research is published in 2021, using a set of six questions answered by 437 people through an online survey. It finds that people who feel more tension also tended to report higher levels of depression, especially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This important study supports us in continuing to provide a service to those experiencing adverse solitude with our Loneliness Response Line.
Contemporary Homelessness in Malta: Quantitative Research (2022)
This research project is funded by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector through the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme. We publish the most up-to-date statistics on homelessness in Malta, identifying the main contributing factors leading to this social scourge.
Culture of Youths in Malta Research (2022)
A research project funded by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector through the Small Initiatives Support scheme, we want to know how youth experience life in Malta, and how they envision their own future. The data we collect informs our work, and those of our colleagues at other youth work organisations, better steering the direction of our projects, services, and youth-led opportunities. The findings of this report are published at a conference in February 2022.
Homeless Human Evolution (2023)
The majority of this study covers statistics collected by YMCA Malta between 2005 and 2022 and is used to give a face to homelessness on the islands, illustrating how it has evolved over the research data period. It aims to provide NGOs, government and policymakers with the necessary statistics required to implement holistic, effective and humane policy. The research is funded through the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector and supported by the Ministry for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights (MIVC). The findings of this report are published at a conference in March 2023.
HomeInclusRation (2023)
This major research paper is the first-ever of its kind in Malta and studies the intersection of homelessness, social inclusion, and migration on the islands. Bringing together the collective wisdom of the Platform Against Homelessness, this study is born from a series of roundtable discussions, bringing together experts across the fields of social housing, migration and labour law, law enforcement, and the others in the non-profit sector. It is funded by the Small Initiatives Support Scheme (SIS) managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector (MCVS), and supported by the Ministry for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights (MIVC). The findings of this report are published at a conference in January 2023.
Youth Education in Schools with St. Aloysius (2022)
Video: The title of this Christmas performance translates to ‘Our Lady’s Painting’. It is held at St. Augustine’s in Valletta (Dec 2022)
Our attitude is what makes us special at YMCA Malta; the Maltese are a hearty bunch with a good sense of humour, and a powerful sense of loyalty. If we can help, you bet we will, and if we are asked to embark on a mission, you can rest assured we will see it through to the very end.
YMCA Malta in Cambodia
Since 2015 we have financially supported a project empowering the children, parents––and especially the female members of a community––living around Kok Chak in the Siem Reap province of Cambodia. We help provide adequate nutrition for 85 children, who are also being provided childcare, kindergarten education and social welfare programmes.
YMCA Malta in Cyprus
It is an honour to be asked to collaborate with YMCA Europe in founding a YMCA in Cyprus. Like our own, this fellow Mediterranean island sits at the crossroads of major cultural interchange and boasts an incredible history. A Maltese delegation flies there regularly and meets with various stakeholders as we all slowly by surely get this ongoing project off the ground.
Needs Support Programme
This pandemic-era initiative is launched to alleviate the material needs of community members who are without adequate food, toiletries and household goods. Companies, associations, schools, and churches encourage their employees, students, and congregations to donate goods on our behalf over a specified time period. We then organise the collected items into specific care packages, distributing them to those living in our residential facilities, as well as in the community.
Kunċert Tama
Held at Christmas every year, the ‘Hope Concert’ is a performing arts event launched in 2019, featuring various pantomime, drama, and singing acts, as well as readings on the theme of ‘hope’. YMCA collaborates with various creative organisations in bringing this concert to the public, held in various locations, mainly around the capital. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 edition is live-streamed from St. Dominic’s in Valletta. We complement these live events at Christmas each year with the distribution of gifts to those who otherwise wouldn’t receive anything for Christmas
Christmas (2021)
This Timeline comes to a close now…but the future is always rolling towards us. Take care of yourselves! Take care of others! Be kind to strangers; sometimes just lending an ear is enough to save someone’s life.
From all of us here at YMCA Malta, we want to say:
