North Yorkshire is investing in the county’s young people by integrating further its arrangements for supporting them and providing open and free access to all of its youth clubs.
The county council has this week completed the latest phase of reorganising the staffing of its Youth Support Service in order to create an even better integrated, efficient and high quality service to meet local and national priorities of targeting and supporting the most vulnerable young people in our communities.
The Youth Support Service brings together a range of youth services in North Yorkshire including youth clubs, one-to-one support for vulnerable young people and advice and guidance on issues such as employment, substance misuse and teenage pregnancy.
Over the next few months Youth Support Service staff will be working with young people to develop further the broad range of exciting opportunities currently on offer and to provide them with the chance to improve their skills and learn something new in things that are of interest to them.
For example, by the end of March over 300 young people across the county will have benefited from residential visits to centres in partnership with the county council’s outdoor learning service.
County Councillor Arthur Barker, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Youth Services said:
We believe we have created a first class youth support service which will be of great benefit to the young people of North Yorkshire. We have continued to invest in our young people because helping them to develop their skills, to maintain good health and wellbeing and to achieve across a broad range of activities is crucial to the vitality of this county.
CultureShock, a four day youth festival, the only one of its kind in the country, will once again take place at the Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate on June 20th-23rd. This will enable young people across this rural, sparsely populated county to attend an exciting outdoor arts festival in a safe drug and alcohol free environment.
Many youth events are also being planned for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee such as a youth fashion show in Harrogate which will celebrate 60 years of British fashion. Indeed in Harrogate there will be an increase overall in organised youth activities.
In Richmondshire new and exciting opportunities for young people include a peer-led street dance project with a high profile performance in Leeds; an intergenerational project where young and old will work together and a number of activity days during the holiday period.
In Scarborough young people are involved at every level in the development of The Street, a multi-million pound centre which will see world class facilities for young people in the town. Working groups of young people have had an input into the building’s design, advice about resources and equipment, arts projects and sport development and many other aspects of the project.
In Northallerton the Insite Youth Support Centre team provides a full range of activities – a vibrant youth club including a DJ project and the development of enterprise projects for young people.
Young people in Selby can attend weekly drop-in sessions at the Selby Sphere or take part in activities and events planned throughout the year at clubs and centres including, Tadcaster, Selby, Sherburn, Riccal, Barlby, Camblesforth, Eggborough and Brayton.
Young people who attend youth support activities are often full of praise for the opportunities provided. At a recent music residential one attendee said: “The activites that the youth support service runs for the music community are brilliant, they create such unique and rare opportunities that are very hard to find anywhere else.”
Young people wanting more information about youth opportunities and activities in their area should contact: Insite@northyorks.gov.uk and they will be put in touch with their local area team.
