Changemakers volunteer interview

Devian Patel is 24, and has had a job since he was 13, when he embarked on his first paper round.  He worked all through school, and university.  In November 2010 he was made redundant by the computer company for whom he worked.    In order to keep his skills up to date, he is working with Changemakers on our website.   “I realized that rather than sitting around at home and thinking about myself, I needed to just look outside and see how I could help other people.

Ironically, the Young Person’s Guarantee, launched by the Department for Work and Pensions, which means that a young person who is unemployed for six months as a result of the recession will be guaranteed the offer of a job, training or work experience, only applies to 18-24 year olds, and Devian is 25 next month.

He is positive about the scheme, though, although wary of the caveat that it only applies to those who have been unemployed for six months.  “It’s a shame it couldn’t be extended to older people”, he said.  “It’s making a very big assumption about when the recession actually started.”

As someone with a very strong work ethic, Devian has been surprised at the dramatic effect being unemployed has had on him.  “The maximum I have never had a job for is a month,” he says.   “I have had to let it sink in.”  He has also had a rude awakening about benefits.  “I am only just figuring out now that that housing benefit is not a perfect solution. There is a lot of fighting to get what you are supposed to receive.”

Like a lot of young people, Devian had taken out a loan to get him started as he needed to furnish a new flat.   “When I was made redundant I had the loan hanging over my head.  Luckily I had done the payment protection scheme, but when you contact the loan company you have to ring an 0845 number, which is not cheap on a mobile.”  He has found the Consumer Credit Counselling service helpful but said guidance for young people in his position is not easy to find. 

“It seems like a lot of people have been set back by going to university,” Devian says.  “I did four years and I have got a student loan of about £16,000.  None of what I am doing is paying that off.   The course which I have done has provided me with the right knowledge and the vocabulary, but when I am applying for jobs I am being turned down because I don’t have the experience.  How can I get experience when no-one will give me the chance?  It seems to me I would have been better if I had come out of sixth form and gone straight into a job.  At least they would have sent me away for training which I wouldn’t have had to pay for. “ 



The Youth of Today Fellowship – Apply Now!

We are now recruiting for The Youth of Today 2010 Fellowship programme.  We are looking for 300 13 - 19 yr olds who show a leadership spark to join us for a 12 month Fellowship programme.
We are recruiting from the following areas:  East London, Camden, Birmingham, Coventry, Bradford, Merseyside, Cumbria, Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley.

Young people will get the chance to join 300 other young leaders at a summer residential, take action with 30 other young leaders in their local area and become part of a national movement of young leaders. You can see photos from last year's residential here.

This years Fellows are currently developing their leadership skills and making fantastic positive changes in the local community.
Tyne and Wear Fellow: I thought it was a fantastic opportunity, for that it gave me a great learning curve into society, how it is diversifying, as well as learning about  team work and leadership
East London Fellow: Since the Fellowship, I have been buzzing about come of the things that I could do with my group to make our campaign a reality as soon as possible.

To find out more about the Fellowship and details of how to apply download our registration form.

Young Trustee Opportunity

The Young Achievers Trust is searching for six enthusiastic and motivated young people aged 18 to 25 to join our Board of Trustees. The Trust delivers the annual Young Achievers Awards, a unique programme that recognises the achievements of exceptional young volunteers, activists and social entrepreneurs. As well as celebrating their achievements, we offer 56 winners a year of exciting support and development opportunities, enabling them to realise their passions and make an even greater impact in their communities. The Board of Trustees leads the charity, setting our strategic aims and ensuring the organising is well managed. As we operate without staff, each trustee takes a lead on a specific area of the Trust’s work. No particular experience or knowledge is required, just a commitment of 8 to 10 hours of volunteering each month. These roles are great fun, offer the opportunity to learn about how charities work and a brilliant impact to make a real impact. Find out more by visiting our website: http://www.youngachievers.co.uk/volunteer.aspx or emailing Russell (our Chair) on info@youngachievers.co.uk. The closing date for applications is Monday 22nd February

It's that time again......are you ready for The Big Challenge?

"The Big Challenge is recruiting for its Youth Leadership Team.  UnLtd and Changemakers have been funded by Vodafone and v to give away a £60K prize fund to young people between the ages of 16-25 to turn their project ideas into reality.  Each Big Challenge has had a different social issue chosen by young people as the focus for project applications. For example, 2009’s issue was Your Chance, Everybody's Change… Many cultures, many individuals, how can you create unity in your community?

Last year the Big Challenge received over 100 applications which were shortlisted down to 31 for a public vote.  15 projects received a share of the prize fund. The prize winners ranged from: a dynamic youth theatre group performing in unconventional venues, to the development of a speech programme for those with speech disabilities to SAY what we take for granted, to a skill- swap scheme for marginalised migrant women to encourage cooking and conversation.  

The Big Challenge puts young people in the driving seat from the beginning to the end. Young people find the issues that they would like to address in their communities and then they help create solutions by selecting inspirational youth led projects ideas. 

Each year, we recruit a Youth Leadership Team for the Big Challenge. The Youth Leadership Team shape the programme; they help advise, direct, support and promote the Big Challenge and its prize winners. The Youth Leadership Team will attend two residentials over the year. And this is where you come in! 

As a member of the Youth Leadership Team you will have the opportunity to influence people at all levels and make a positive change in society. Working in a team, it is your responsibility to choose the Big Challenge theme for the year - something that you feel is an important and relevant challenge/issue which is important for young people.  You will then call upon and encourage other young people to submit their innovative project ideas to the Big Challenge competition.  You will help shape, market and promote the Big Challenge. 

The Youth Leadership Team will also be responsible for shortlisting the project ideas and deciding how the Big Challenge fund is spent. You will support the chosen prize winners to ensure that their project really has an impact. You will be involved in training and supporting the prize winners. You will decide the key areas that your prize winner needs support in, for example; research, project planning, promotion, campaigning etc...  You will also help to organise events, promotional activities and a final celebration event!

You need to complete our application pack to apply, available from tiana@changemakers.org.uk.   Get in touch – we can’t wait to work with you."

Win a Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Ipod or Top Vouchers!

You could win any one of these in 5 minutes and get your views on youth unemployment heard in just 5 minutes by taking the Edge Learner Forum survey.

The Edge Learner Forum’s Youth Commission investigation has 1 big focus: Employability. Our investigation wants to be a new solution to ‘the scourge of unemployment’ currently afflicting young people up and down the UK. It is a familiar situation for hundreds of thousands of young people, desperate to kick-start your career but held back by the recession and other factors beyond your control. Well now if you are 15-25 get your voice heard on the issue, we will bring the findings to Government to represent your views and you could easily win a great prize too.

The link for the survey is www.youthcommissionsurvey.co.uk