The Youth of Today Give it Some Welly in Berkshire

Today, 300 young people from around England are flocking to Wellington College, Berkshire to attend the first ever The Youth of Today Fellowship Residential, highlighting the critical role youth leadership is playing to project a more positive image of young people, working to improve their own lives and their community.

The young people, from 10 locations across England, aged 13 – 19, have all been nominated to participate in the year-long The Youth of Today Fellowship programme and will put their Fellowship Residential experiences into practice when they return to demonstrate their leadership skills in their communities. Each young person has already shown leadership spark in the following areas: community, education, work, family, arts and sports, civic and civil society.

The Youth of Today Fellowship programme will provide real opportunities for young people, and activities will be based on objectives that can be sustained in everyday life experiences.  Its focus is on recognising what each young person needs in terms of skills and coaching to support them to be successful in whatever walk of life they choose and importantly lead by example to encourage their peers to take similar paths.

During the four day Fellowship Residential the young people will take part in individual and group sessions that vary from coaching, networking, competitive games, public speaking and dragon’s den type challenges. The activities will highlight what youth leadership is and how each person can apply their leadership skills to develop projects back in their own community. The young people will be challenged to commit to leading social change and inspiring others and at the end of the weekend will create a measurable plan to act on at home.

Adam Nichols, speaking on behalf of The Youth of Today, said: “It is important that each of our Fellowship young leaders know the support The Youth of Today, delivered by seven leading youth organisations, can offer them. We are looking to skill up these individuals as leaders of positive change so they can engage more fully in society. We are very excited about this weekend and hope everyone will follow their progress on www.theyouthoftoday.org

ENDS
 
 
Contact:
Email media@theyouthoftoday.org
Telephone 07753 933607
www.theyouthoftoday.org
 
Notes to Editors
 
The Youth of Today, launched in July 2009, is a consortium of leading youth organisations working together to increase the quality, quantity and diversity of opportunities for young people as leaders of change in their communities. The commitment for a Youth Leadership Body was set out in Aiming High for Young People: A ten year strategy for positive activities. Aimed at young people aged 13 to 19, it is funded and supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and Communities and Local Government and led by The National Youth Agency, British Youth Council, Changemakers, Citizenship Foundation, the Prince's Trust, UK Youth Parliament and the Young Foundation.
 
An exciting new range of programmes are being launched from July 2009. These include:

• The Youth of Today Leadership Fund: a £1million youth sector investment

• A Local Councillor Shadowing Programme

• Central government Ministerial shadowing programme

• The Youth of Today Fellowship, opening up networking and training opportunities to 600 young people.

Particip8 2 Activ8 – Promoting diversity in Loxford Park

Following on from the success of our ‘Million’ event held earlier in the year, the Changemakers and BTCV East London Youth Action Team organised ‘Particip8 2 Activ8’ on Sunday 16th August at Loxford Park, as part of a wider event promoting diversity in the London borough of Redbridge.

In the run up to the Olympics in 2012 and to promote intergenerational dialogue, the Youth Action Team collaborated with Redbridge Youth Bus to promote sports-related opportunities in the local community and to continue their mission to encourage volunteering to local young people.
 
The team devised and hosted 8 separate sports-related activities, from a treasure hunt to a sumo penalty shoot out!

There were a total of 30 young people volunteering on the day making the event a truly memorable day!

The Community Comes together to learn more about Crime

People from all backgrounds, races and faiths were brought together to understand the negative impact crime has on communities by attending the 'Criminals in the Community' workshop on Saturday 1st of August which was held at the Froud Community Centre in Newham. The event was a huge success as 50 people attended to learn about crime and its consequences.
 
More importantly, it inspired young people to really thing about their environments and what more can be done to provide safer environments for young people to utilise on a regular basis.
 
The workshop proved to be a huge success with many varied opinions on display. The audience interaction was very productive as issues such as 'stop and search' and police commitments were discussed. The day also consisted of real life stories from ex-offenders and the impact graffiti has on young people as explained by Mohammed Ali from Aerosol Arabic.
 
The showpiece of the workshop which brought everything together was the Where U Going Team who performed the Puppeteer. Not only did the Puppeteer reflect the purpose of the workshop, it showed the potential of young people who have been through difficult situations to come out much stronger by turning their lives around.
 
Not only did the workshop bring the community together it helped prove that crime is a concern of the many and not the few.
 
--ENDS--
 
Notes to Editors:
 
1. The event was delivered by Farhat Amin as part of the Changemakers Future Leaders Initiative in partnership with the Muslim Council of Britain. The Future Leaders Project gives young people across England the opportunity to develop their own community projects.
 
2. The workshop was held at the Froud Community Centre, 1 Toronto Avenue, E12 5JF and was sponsored by the Muslim Youth Network.
 
3. Mohammed Ali is a graffiti artist who been across the globe and his work is described as challenging the term clash of civilizations. His work focuses on exploring the issues found in multicultural society.
 
4. The Where U Going Team is an initiative of Victory Youth Group.  The initiative is managed by individuals who have been through difficult situations and have turned their lives around and is based at UKCG, a Church that promotes the idea that everyone can have better lives.
 
5. The Puppeteer is a performance which portrays the various influences young people may have which covers issues such as peer pressure, the effects of taking drugs, alcohol misuse and other concerns young people may be facing.

'Growing Together' - Intergenerational Project

Changemakers are working with Catch 22 and the St George’s Post 16 Centre in Birmingham to deliver the ‘Growing Together’ project. This national pilot encourages community cohesion by bringing together young people, their parents and volunteers.

So far, the project has attracted nine parents and more than 20 young people. The sessions run on Thursday evenings and begin with a Caribbean supper, after supper tasks are allocated and the families work on the organic community garden located at the back of the centre. The group are involved in preparing the beds, planting seeds, weeding and building protective crop cages to protect the plants.

Each family receives a £5 gift voucher for every week they attend, with a bonus voucher for the family who works best together. The group recently had a visit to David Austin Roses to spend their vouchers. When the crops are ready the group will take part in cooking sessions using the produce and sharing recipes. They also plan to produce a ‘Growing Together’ Cookbook and record the project through a DVD incorporating interviews/comments.

Feedback from some of the participants: What is good about being involved in the project?

"It’s hands on, while learning things you didn’t know, meeting and interacting with other people." (Female, 30)

"You get to meet other people and learn how to plant and harvest crops. Can you tell me if the project has brought any benefits to your area?" (Female, 11)

"Provides something for the children to do, keeps them occupied and in positive activities" (Female, 33)

"Yes, it gets people of all ages involved. How have you found working with younger people or older people?" (Female, 11)

"Fun, interesting because I’ve learnt from the older more experienced people and the younger have learnt from me" (Female, 33)

"It’s been easy to work with the older people and I’ve enjoyed it." (Female, 11)

v50 awards for pupils at Ponteland High School

On the 20th July 2009, the Changemakers Northumberland vinvolved team hosted a v50 celebration event at Ponteland High School.

The evening started with ‘The Whistling Sheep’ - a local ceilidh band from Northumberland entertaining attendees as they arrived, followed by an R&B/commercial dance workshop facilitated by Ashley Bentsham.

All 37 young people from Ponteland High School achieved their v50 certificates both for peer education and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

At the end of the evening, delegates enjoyed a buffet extravaganza from ‘Nichols your Baker’.