Friday 15 February 2008

The Forumz 4 U Youth Forum

My name is Ryan Black and i am a youth worker. I work for a youth organisation called Enthusiasm based in Derby. In April 2007 I was given a project to set up a Youth Forum in the Stockbrook area of Derby. My aim was to get young people living within the Stockbrook area to start meeting up fortnightly to discuss issues and concerns that they believed were affecting them within their community. As the months went on the forum members were developing and were more aware of there own community and how community development plays a vital part in improvements to an area, through voicing your own opinion and recognising that it is important.
Some youth forum members were so dedicated to making a change in their area that they became volunteers for a Friday night youth club that Enthusiasm ran called The Link Club. The forum members became volunteers on a Friday night between the hours of 7-10pm. The young people work alongside the youth workers whilst the youth club was running to assist with creating a fun and safe environment for other young people to relax and enjoy their evening.
The youth forum members also attended a trip to the Milton Keynes Safety Centre, this was a centre that educates young people on how to spot hazards and prevent health and safety issues arising within their own homes and area in which they live. This trip was very successful because it helped the forum members with their personal development as well as giving them further confidence to become active community members.
In November 2007 the youth forum members where involved in a youth forum presentation and they were given recognition for all their hard work over the past seven months of being in the forum. At the Start of January 2008 the youth forum members have all decided as a group to pick a project that they feel will make a difference in the Stockbrook area where they live and the project is called the Stockbrook patrol. This project involves the forum members getting out into their community, meeting new people, taking pictures and identifying concerns that they have on the local parks within their area, This is so they can then feedback this information to assist with making a difference for their area of Stockbrook.This information then gets fed back to the Abbey tasking meeting so that young people are clearly represented and their voices are finally being heard.