In the Loop: 2
Welcome to the YWU’s fortnightly bulletin aiming to keep members up to date with the latest
developments. This is e-mailed to staff in member LAs & voluntary organisations.
Youth Work Unit –Y&H. - Stringer House, 34 Lupton Street, Leeds LS10 2QW.
Office open: Tues, Weds & Thurs. 0113 270 3595, theunit@youthworkunit.com
Web: www.youthworkunit.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/YouthWorkUnit
National News
Cabinet Office report on the November survey of LA youth services with reference to LAs statutory
duty is currently being compiled and will be published in Late February/March. Over 100 LAs
responded and CO feel they now have a much better picture of youth provision as well as positive
and innovative best practice examples.
YoungMinds Vs- a major campaign focused on C&YP’s mental health. A poll of 3500 young people
identified their top 5 concerns; bullying, sexual pressures, school stress, unemployment and lack of
access to help.You can Sign up now! The campaign is being backed by singer Frankie Sandford from
the Saturdays and Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband who spoke at the launch event along with
the Minister in charge of Youth Policy Nick Hurd. A young activist’s network will be formed and
participants will deliver training to healthcare and childcare professionals and run local mental health
task groups. Get involved by emailing YMcampaigns@youngminds.org.uk and visit
www.youngmindsvs.org.uk for more information about the campaign.
Pressure from Young Carer’s groups has led to changes to the Children & Families Bill currently
going through parliament such that an LA must assess whether a young carer needs support. See
Youth and Policy Conference Thinking Afresh, feminism and youth work – 10th -11th June 2014,
Hinsley Hall, Leeds. The fourth ‘Youth & Policy’ Thinking seriously conference will be a women only
event focusing the subject of feminism and Youth Work. Please see attached document for further
information and booking information.
The Consent Issue - A survey by the National Children’s Bureau has found that almost one in three
say they did not learn about consent at school. Children and young people were even less likely to
have learnt ‘what is good or bad in a relationship’; with only 43% saying this had been covered in sex
and relationships education classes at school, with many describing a complete absence of
discussion about real-life relationship situations and what you would do should something happen.
£30 million for new special educational needs champions - Funds from Department for Education
will be used to recruit and train a pool of ‘independent supporters’ - champions drawn from
independent voluntary, community and private organisations to help the families of children and
young people with special educational needs (SEN)
Frontier Youth Trust -Research into Contemporary Christian Youth Work and Politics – FYT
are undertaking research about the extent politics is important to Christian youth workers and
ministers and how this is reflected in work with young people. If this applies to you please complete
the questionnaire on their website.
Something's Got to Give: the state of Britain's voluntary sector - This report from Centre for
Social Justice finds Voluntary sector income has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a
few large organisations with charities with annual incomes of £100,000 or less account for only 3.5%
of the £38bn income of the voluntary sector.
Step Up to Serve Campaign- UK Youth are supporting this campaign to increase youth volunteering
to 50% by 2020 and have pledged to put social action at the heart of their work. Read more...
Youth Chances Summary of First Findings: the experiences of LGBTQ young people in
England Youth Chances finds that over half of LGBTQ young people report mental health
issues. Key findings include 42% of LGBTQ young people have sought medical help for anxiety or
depression; 52% of LGBTQ young people report self-harm either now or in the past; 44% of LGBTQ
young people have considered suicide.
Can I Tell You Something? - Report from Childline reveals what was affecting children and young
people in 2013. It shows a significant increase in the number of contacts about self-harm for the
second year running, with the number of young people contacting ChildLine about self-harm up by
41% (compared to 2011/12).
Local authority roles in the Youth Contract for 16- to 17-year-olds – The Updated information
includes the expected involvement of LAs throughout the process.
Provisional local government finance settlement 2014 to 2015: change in spending power
Spending power measures the overall revenue funding available for local authority services, including
Council Tax, locally retained business rates and government grants .
Applications for The Network will re-open on 30 January 2014 - The Network is the most
prestigious and comprehensive introduction to TV in the UK, run by the Edinburgh International TV
Festival. It aims to identify and nurture emerging talent. It is open to anyone 18 and over,. NO
qualifications are needed. Applications for The Network open 30 January 2014 and close on 31 March
2014. If you are interested please go to their website.
Shaping Participation: Shaping practice for a stronger youth-led future - NCVYS and Woodcraft
Folk have joined forces to create and deliver this one day event which will provide a unique
opportunity to learn, share and shape meaningful and practical ways to work with and for young
people. The day will feature a host of speakers, talks, practice sharing workshops, open cafe style
and panel discussions - giving attendees a platform to network and develop how they engage young
people in their work. View the flyer for more information. Go to the website to book your place online.
Skills sharing & mentoring - The Small Charities Coalition. - Their skills sharing and mentoring
service matches small charities with individuals that can support them through a particular need or
challenge. It might be checking over a funding bid, or working on a whole strategic review.
Y&H News
National Citizenship Service NCS – Commissioning Workshops in Y&H – the NCS Trust will be
running workshops to provide info on future commissioning of NCS delivery
York – 29th Jan at Royal York Hotel 10 - 1
Leeds – 4th February, Park Plaza Hotel – 1 – 4
To book complete the online form at http://ncstrust.eventbrite.co.uk. Spaces are limited, so please
limit your attendance to no more than 1 or 2 people from each organisation. For more information
about the NCS please visit http://www.ncsyes.co.uk .
Young, British, Pakistani & Muslim Video - A group of young people from the Pakistani Youth Forum,
Huddersfield have put together a short video entitled ‘Young British, Pakistani & Muslim‘speaking
about their identity, challenges and concerns. The video captures their feelings and thoughts of
others about themselves and their community. The video, posted Kirklees Local TV, can be accessed
via the above link. For more info about the project, contact pyf@hpca.org.uk.
Big Lottery Funding - Talent Match Humber Roadshow - Humber Learning Consortium,
Monday, 17 February 2014 from 13:30 to 15:30 (GMT), Hull - register your booking at
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talent-match-humber-roadshow-tickets-6899587853
Talent Match – Leeds City region – for the 5 West Yorkshire LAs – Your Consortium have this week
held 4 workshops to inform would be delivery partners about the submission process. All application
forms and guidance are on their website www.yourconsortium.org
Ambition and UK Youth invite you to the Youth Work Counts conference at the Leeds Marriott
Hotel on 16-17 June. Early bird tickets start at just £66 each. Read more...
The BLAST Project will be holding its first open morning of the year on Wednesday 19th February
2014. The event starts promptly at 9am and finishes at 12.30pm, and be held at our Leeds site:
Yorkshire MESMAC, The BLAST Project, 60 Upper Basinghall Street, Leeds, LS1 5HR, please see
the website for further information http://mesmac.co.uk/open-mornings
Youth Forward’s Development Arts Project is recruiting young people aged 19-24, especially BME
individuals/ groups and NEETS (not in education, employment and training) for their Music, Dance
and Spoken-Words Workshop Programme. YF’s Jan –April 2014 spring block is a twelve week
Performing Arts Workshop which will give young people the opportunity to devise their own
individual/or group performance pieces with the help of experience performing artists; which will be
then be showcased to a live audience at the end. Youth Forward’s Arts block commences on
Wednesday 29 January 2014 - 19 April 2014, 5.00pm -7.00pm, all workshops are based at Leeds City
College. See www.youthforward.co.uk for detail or E-mail: youthforward@hotmail.co.uk
Youth Voice Y&H
Votes at 16 Lobby of Parliament – will take place on 12 February with several young people and
youth workers going down from Y&H to join in the lobby. The event will give them an opportunity to
speak directly to Lords and Members of Parliament and explain to them why they should support
lowering the voting age to 16
Adopt a Lord - BYC are encouraging young people to adopt a Lord and write to them and meet them
about Votes at 16 – 289 Lords have been adopted nationally
Our Voice – Blog Spot has been created on the Kirklees Youth Council website. It provides a
summary of what’s been achieved by the YC over the last 12+ months.
http://files.kirkleesyc.org.uk/BLOGSPOT.pdf
Curriculum for Life – NE Lincs full council debated the C4L and have approved changes to be made
to PHSE across their schools.
NE Lincs Young Reporters have a won a Diana Award. 2 of the 23 young people involved were
invited to an Inspire day where they met Prince William and went on to win a Dragon’s Den type
competition . They will now meet Barclay’s business managers to organise a national conference
about rolling out Young Reporters nationally.
Workforce Development and Training
YorkYouth - the online home of the York Youth Sector partnership and Innovate York are holding a
‘Synergy Surgery: New Solutions for working with young people’, on Feb 6th at Clements Hall York.
This all day event will bring together those working with young people, academics, business, media
and digital creatives and the community to develop new solutions to providing services for young
people through collaboration. Register your interest (places are limited) by email yss@york.gov.uk .
Online Discussion - The York Youth Challenge has just gone live and focuses on finding new
solutions for working with young people by using existing resources differently. Please let us know
how do you imagine youth work could look in years to come? Get involved in the discussions (you will
need to become a member of YorkYouth.ning.com to be able to add to the discussion). If you have
queries please do contact us at yss@york.gov.uk or 01904 552350.
Free campaigning and influencing training for local organisations - The National Council for
Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), in partnership with Involve Yorkshire & Humber is offering free
training and support to local voluntary and community organisations to build their campaigning and
influencing skills. Deadline to register your interest is 7 February 2014. Over 4 weeks, through a mix
of online activities, tailored one-to-one support and a full-day workshop in Leeds, organisations will
learn more about the changes in policy at the local level and how to engage with local decisionmakers and public bodies. A full-day workshop in Leeds will be held on Tuesday 18th March
2014. This training is free and offers elements of NCVO’s Certificate in Campaigning course worth up
to £2058. To apply for this training, please email Neena Bhati to register your interest. For more
information about the programme, visit: http://knowhownonprofit.org/campaigns/local-campaigningand-influencing-support
Vacancies –
BINGLEY YOUTH CAFÉ - Youth Support Worker 18 hours per week £19,047 – £21,525 pro rata enormous potential for innovative and exciting youth work within an established team. Contracts will
be for the two year period, ending in April 2016. Application pack on website www.sbvs.org.uk or
email admin@sbvs.org.uk for an application pack. Closing date is Friday 7th February 2014, 5pm.
Interviews for the Youth Worker post will be held on Wednesday 19th February 2014
Funding
Funding of up to £2000 available for young people across the country! - UK Youth and
Starbucks are delighted to announce that Starbucks Youth Action funding is available for young
people to deliver a project making a positive difference to people in their community. If you're
interested in applying please visit our website for further guidance or if you have any questions please
do get in touch - we're here to help: Applications are open now until 9am on 17 March 2014.
The Tesco Charity Trust Community Awards Scheme provides one-off donations of between £500
and £4,000 to registered charities and not for profit organisations who are working on local projects
that support children and their education and welfare, and children with disabilities. There are
four rounds of funding each year.
The Mercers’ Company - Mercer's Company is a long-standing grant-maker focused on Education,
General Welfare, the Advancement of the Christian Religion, and Heritage and the Arts. These
grants are focused on young people from the ages of 5-25. Deadlines throughout the year.
23th January 2014