YouothAction NI Update October 2021
The Club were delighted to hear Club member William Redpath's very informative update on Youth Action's activities at the zoom meeting Monday 18 October highlighting how they had been able to keep interacting with young people throughout the pandemic and had kept going having furloughed no staff.
They had done this by looking for new ways to interact digitally and had created their Digital "Youth Empowered" Hub moving all the GET SET content online. They were also able after lockdown to have some face-to-face interaction often on a one-to-one basis and found other ways to help by: providing funding for mobile top-ups and broadband as young people need that to be able to be involved; had daily online sessions with a broad spectrum of topics from quiz nights, cookery, digital skills and advice to job seekers to a Dragons Den. In particular they also focused on young people’s health and wellbeing sending out 250 self-care packs, houseplants, food and activities to maintain mental health. He revealed that the feedback had been very positive and they had received comments such as "helped me mentally...." and "gave me a reason to get up....".
He also highlighted the success of the GET SET Programme reporting that it was commencing again with a face-to-face Big Skills Day session in the NW on 01 December and hoped that there would be one in the new year in Belfast. He declared that the GET SET Programme gets better and better and pointed out its success noting that since April 2018 they had:
- helped 644 young people
- 458 had gone on to get employment/training/or education which represents 86% significantly over their target 65%
- 425 had achieved qualifications
- 1360 unique users and
- had a ground-breaking podcast from women talking about their experiences in lockdown
He noted that the other major project was Our Story in the Making, 6 month youth-led project to highlight the contribution of Northern Ireland’s young people to society focusing on their contribution, talents and hopes and the role that they see themselves playing in creating a hopeful and flourishing future for Northern Ireland. It incorporates inter-connecting strands of activity across:
- radio - with 114 podcasts on living in NI broadcast on Youth Action’s Radio YNP station,
- theatre - a theatrical production written and directed by young people exploring the achievements, stories and dreams,
- online - a social media hub and platform
- singing-song writing - with a competition in conjunction with Cool FM and Pete Snodden culminating in studio time to record the winning entry and
- a young people’s 5 nations symposium 02/03 December bringing together young people from across the British and Irish Isles which will focus on building connections/relationships, growing youth participation whilst nurturing prospective civic and political leaders for the future; with high-profile speakers this should be creative and impactful
Answering questions he noted that it had been relatively easy to interact by zoom with young people who had been previously involved but they met some new young people face to face to create a connection; he did stress however that in many respects digital work had been beneficial in enabling young people who would have had transport difficulties the medium to keep in contact. He also highlighted the success of the Rotary Intern Programme in providing improved prospects for employment and noted he had seen a personal transformation and greatly increased confidence after the placement.