Just4Youth is being set up to help adults engage and involve young people in the design and delivery of services by offering a unique way of working with young people.
Youth Consultant for Just 4 Youth, Nicole High, explained: “We speak the language of young people because we are young people. That’s why we can help organisations to take youth engagement to another level because we can engage young people in a way that adults can’t.“
The team is made up of nationally acclaimed, professional youth consultants based in West Middlesbrough who have been trained and employed as part of the young advisors programme.
Just4Youth can run workshops and presentations at conferences, offer training courses and develop toolkits, ‘youth proof’ documents and websites, carry out research, and help shape and develop youth engagement policy.
Nicole said: “We carried out research which showed that there’s a lot of demand for what we’re doing, so we decided to go for it and set ourselves up as a social enterprise.
“We can guide adult service providers about what it is like for a young person to live, work, learn and play in their neighbourhood and show community leaders and decision-makers how to engage young people and maintain their active interest.”
Kevin Franks is the Operations Manager of Just 4 Youth. He said: “With us, you get exactly what it says on the tin – young people leading the workshop, doing the presentations, giving the advice. I’m there but only as support for the team. What you’re paying for is the expertise, viewpoint, open mind, determination and frankness of young people themselves –and that’s what we deliver.”
Just4Youth begins trading on 1 April 2008, but already has a string of successes under its belt, including producing a young person’s version of the Local Policing Plan for Cleveland Police, a staff training DVD for Government Office North East and carrying out a research project on the Every Child Matters agenda for the Children’s Workforce Development Council.
A launch postcard - Serious about involving young people? – is being sent to key decision-makers in a range of organisations that provide or commission services for young people. A new website www.just4youth.com is also being developed.
Call Just4Youth on 01642 757865 for details.
Ends.
Press Notice WMNT221. 25/3/08.
Issued by Alison Aston on behalf of West Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Trust. Tel: 05602 702493 or mobile 0776 197 3378 for more details.