Honest personal stories on what it’s like growing up in in the UK today, as told by BBC Young Reporters. Young people share their own stories in their own words, with authenticity and honesty.

Girlguiding asked over 2,000 girls aged 7 to 21 across the UK for their views on a range of areas across their lives. The results this year show girls’ and young women’s happiness has been in decline for over a decade, but the last three years have seen an acceleration in this trend.

This snapshot of the Girls' Attitudes Survey explores what girls have told us. And how you can use the Girlguiding programme and resources to build their confidence, develop new skills and improve their wellbeing.

On the 6th of September the NYA readiness level moved to green

The NYA readiness level is now green and international travel will once more be supported (subject to delay and FCDO advice)

All young people will be able to attend indoor or outdoor activities. Youth provision for young people of all ages, both under and over 18 years of age, have the same requirements.

To find out more download the NYA's guidance document on managing youth sector activities and spaces during Covid-19.

You can find helpful Covid-19 guidance on the NYA's website by clicking here.

Khulisa have shared their new strategy by releasing a short film and document.

To watch their film click here and to download their new strategy document click here.

MAMA Youth Project is recruiting for a FREE 6 weeks Digital Media Training, where trainees gain 6 weeks of intensive digital media training, followed by minimum of 2 weeks paid work placement with one of our industry partners (such as Sky, BBC, Banijay, Netflix, Channel 4, Warner Bros Entertainment, Lime Pictures, Fremantle Media, Sister Pictures, Gravity Media and many more).

In an industry where relevant and reputable experience is essential to gain employment, this opportunity can really open doors. 96% of our alumni are still in sustained employment a year after completion. We are proud to say that we have helped over 580 young people from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds on their way to make a mark in the media industry.

Alumni will also benefit from a minimum of 6 months’ career follow up support in addition to mentoring by an industry professional. Travel and lunch expenses will be covered for the 6 weeks’ duration.

The skills participants will gain

· End to end digital media content creation for Licklemor Productions (a BAFTA award winning production company https://www.licklemorproductions.com) and MAMA Youth Project (www.mamayouthproject.org.uk) social platforms, which includes developing ideas, storytelling, self-shooting, text and video editing.

· How to publish, schedule and distribute content, as well as monitor analytics to engage and grow an audience.

· Successful candidates will also gain production etiquette, fundamental work ethics, CV tailoring, interview techniques, career mentorship and peer networking.

· Here is a video with testimonials from previous trainees https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz7MIw5HkjM&t=1s

Training Location:

The training is due to take place at Sky Osterley Campus, TW7 5QD, restrictions permitting. We will be working in line with government COVID-19 health and safety procedures and where possible, some sessions may take place remotely utilising Zoom and other platforms.

Dates:

Application Deadline: Monday 9^th of August 2021, 11.59pm.

Interviews: will take place from 24th-27^th of August 2021 via Zoom.

Training Dates: 6^th of September – 15^th of October 2021.

More Info On Eligibility & How to apply:

Candidates should follow the step by step guide on our website https://www.mamayouth.org.uk/training/digital-media-training to complete the application process and find out if they are eligible to apply.

Youth funding and capacity building charity Impetus has partnered with Bank of America to launch a new training programme for aspiring leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds working in the UK youth sector.

The Impetus Leadership Academy aims to support the development of future leaders and their organisations, to contribute to the national conversation on issues facing young people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and ultimately improve the effectiveness of the sector. Building on Impetus’ training toolkit, the programme offers masterclasses on key leadership topics including financial and impact management, fundraising, and presentation skills and draws on input from experts working on issues of race in the workplace and in leadership. It is designed and delivered by people of colour for people of colour.

The course, which is fully funded for successful applicants, will be delivered as a mix of group sessions, mentoring and networking, running over the course of a year.

Recruitment is now underway for the first cohort of 12 participants – applications close 30 July; for eligibility criteria and information on how to apply visit https://www.impetus.org.uk/leadership-academy

This Summer Inner wings are running a confidence building programme aimed at 7-12 year old's at the Calthorpe Community Gardens. Join them for 5 fun filled sessions and begin the journey of discovering your superpower!

This Summer, Inner Wings are running a confidence building programme aimed at 7-12 year old's at the Calthorpe Community Gardens. Join them for 5 fun-filled sessions and begin the journey of discovering your superpower!

Finding Your Superpower is a Confidence Building programme that will help children take the fear out of failure and realise their unique and unlimited potential.

Over 5 engaging sessions, children will build their confidence and begin the exciting journey of discovering their superpower!

Each session of Finding Your Superpower was designed using the insight of experts in education to ensure that key skills are targeted effectively. Every session in the programme begins with a warm-up game, concludes with 5 minutes of mindfulness practice and has frequent opportunities for children to reflect on their learning.

Inner Wings use fun and engaging activities, such as improvisation and storytelling to build an environment in which children can take risks and build their self efficacy. With multiple opportunities for collaborative working and reflection, children will learn the value of their contribution and begin to develop a growth mindset.

Free for 7-12 year olds, there are 20 places and if you would like to take part you must commit to all 5 sessions that take place from August 9th-13th.

Keep an eye out to book your place shortly!

Check out their website: https://www.innerwings.org/

Skills Exchange Project are a non profit organisation who seek to guide and mentor at risk youngsters, by using the skills they already have. They aim to channel these young people into progressive and law abiding ventures and guide them into fulfilling areas in business, that they may not have known existed or had access to. Their services also include mentorship, personal finance and life skills.

Skills Exchange Project (S.E.P.) have experienced facilitators in Post 16 education with CELTA, PGCE and AET qualifications. They also have vast experience in FE colleges and Adult centre’s in and around London.

They have an ex city worker with an IAG certificate and ACSI accreditations from the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments to guide our beneficiaries through the much demanded Introduction to Trading.

These workshops will be held several times a week. If demand increases then we will increase the frequency of the workshops.

The Skills Exchange Project are committed to giving mentorship and direction, providing workshops and surgeries to young offenders, at risk youth and young people from both the BAME and wider community.

To find out more and learn about their services click the button below.

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Wac Arts is inviting those aged 16-25 for free dance training!

Announcing our guest Artistic Directors

Lukas McFarlane

Kloe Dean

Participants will get to try out what its like to be in the company and 15 dancers will be selected to receive 6 weeks of free dance training!

Please click the button for more information and how to book your taster lesson.

YPF Trust asked a group of independent consultants from the INTEN partnership, to look at the work of the Foundations both before and during COVID-19, and also to consider what the future might hold for their model of working with children and young people.

Blog from the INTEN partnership.......

Five years ago, John Lyon’s Charity observed with dismay the decline of youth services in the London boroughs.

Years of austerity had taken their toll, and many local authorities had reduced or even withdrawn their support. Small local charities and community groups, at the forefront of work with children and young people, were in a desperate strait, with far too many going under. John Lyon’s Charity concluded that this just had to be addressed.

But how? The answer, it was believed, was to build afresh a local system of support. One that could encourage a positive spirit of collaboration among front-line organisations, and engage the local authority and businesses, and anyone else who could help. At the same time a method was needed to raise funds locally, and from further afield, and direct money where it could make the biggest difference to children and young people.

And so in 2015 the first Young People’s Foundations were established, in Brent, Barnet and Harrow. Others followed in Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster, and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Outside London, Young Manchester was set up in 2017.

What have they achieved? YPF Trust asked us, a group of independent consultants, to look at the work of the Foundations both before and during COVID-19, and also to consider what the future might hold for their model of working with children and young people.

We were impressed by what we found. Each Young People’s Foundation is small (typically with three to five core staff) but together they have raised a total of £19.3 million for local work with children and young people. Of this over half (£9.8 million) is sourced from outside the specific local authority area.

In a few cases, notably in Westminster, some substantial resources have been raised from the private sector. However, elsewhere such efforts, while still worthwhile, have been less productive. A reflection of the woeful state of corporate social responsibility in this country, perhaps?

The Foundations’ good local knowledge has enabled the distribution of funds deep into the local community, reaching parts which have previously been overlooked, and where very frequently the need is greatest. They have often deployed funding in ways which have drawn on the resourcefulness of young people and their families, and involved young people directly in the funding decisions in creative and thoughtful ways.

Most importantly, the Young People’s Foundations have been able to win trust locally. Sometimes this did not happen straightaway. Initial suspicion of anything new is, after all, not uncommon. But, quite quickly, they built successful relationships at every level. In our view this was hugely helped by their founding principles that they do not compete with local front-line organisations and that they do not deliver direct services themselves.

Overall, the nine Young People’s Foundations have already brought together a total of over 1,200 organisations into collaborative local partnerships, driven by the perception that they can achieve more together than by acting alone. Around 500 of these are small local charities and community groups, working at the front line with children and young people, and including for example supplementary schools, which have been largely neglected by ‘mainstream’ organisations.

During COVID-19, the pool of existing relationships established by each Foundation triggered fast and effective actions, helping local agencies across sectors come together in the interests of children and young people and their families. For example, the Young Barnet Foundation, partnering with Inclusion Barnet and Volunteering Barnet as ‘Barnet Together’, was highly instrumental in setting up a local COVID Response Taskforce. Working closely with Barnet Council, Barnet Together co-ordinated food banks, meals delivery, and shopping collection services, to help isolated people, families and children at risk across the borough.

We were struck by the commitment of all the Foundations to understand and respond to local needs. For example in 2018, Young Harrow Foundation carried out an assessment of the needs of local young people aged 10-21. This was a coordinated effort involving 51 charities, Harrow Council, Harrow Youth Parliament, 24 trained youth peer leaders, 8 schools and colleges, and 30 community volunteers. This exercise alone collected the views of 4,358 young people, a figure any market research company would be proud of!

In all of this, we noted the cultural diversity within the Foundations, and their deliberate efforts to reflect the communities in which they operate. For example, across the nine organisations, 39% of trustees and 47% of staff are from BAME backgrounds.

In many ways all this represents a flying start for this model of local collaboration. Certainly, credit is due to some enlightened funders, notably John Lyon’s Charity and the City Bridge Trust, who have provided core funding, and also the local authorities that have embraced the opportunity.

If the network expands to other places around the country there will of course be some challenges, for example to sustain the integrity of the model, to attract the modest levels of core funding which make this way of working so much easier, and to build on – and not displace - valuable existing activity.

At a time when young people’s health, well-being, and future prospects are under pressure as never before, and when we are also seeing renewed (and long overdue) appreciation of the benefits of social infrastructure, replication and roll-out of the Young People’s Foundation model is well worth considering.

The YPF Trust is looking for a CEO! We are looking for an experienced, charismatic, and enterprising CEO who has a strong track record of using strategic leadership and management to achieve high impact within the charity sector.

Have you got what is takes to lead the Trust through its start-up phase, supporting the engagement of a wide range of local and national stakeholders to learn from and build on our existing network of YPFs, using your understanding of the challenges faced by children and young people.

We are seeking a CEO who will not only manage the YPF Trust as an organisation within its own right, but also provide leadership, innovation, and strategic direction for the expanding Young People Foundation (YPF) Network.

To find out more information and to apply for the role:

Chief Executive Officer, 4-5 days per week job with YPF Trust | 203665 (timewisejobs.co.uk)

Places are limited, book your place quickly!

Is your child eligible for free school meals and aged between 5-16?

You can book 4 days this Easter, for 4 hours a day in one of the Easter Holiday Hubs in the Camden borough.

Children and young people will have access to number of enriching activities and a free healthy hot meal on the day.

Click here to see the list of holiday hubs with available spaces.

Click here to visit YCF Holiday Hunger page to learn more about the programme.

Click here to see the information in the Camden Rise regarding the HAF 2021 programme.

Camden Holiday activity and food programme (HAF 2021) is designed to offer school-age children and young people eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), free access to activities and food/a meal. The programme will run during 1 week in Easter , 1 week in Winter and 4 weeks in Summer during school holidays. 4 hours , 4 days per week for 6 weeks per year 2021.

In partnership with Camden Council, YCF is expanding its Holiday Hunger programme in 2021.

We are looking for Camden-based organisations to help provide food and/or deliver youth activities during Summer and Christmas holidays.

Please let us know if your organisation has the capacity to run cooking sessions, cook onsite meals or provide food deliveries in Camden.

In addition, Holiday Hubs are looking to partner with other local charities to provide sport sessions, host activity workshops, run holiday camps and more.

To learn more or express an interest in collaborating with programme delivery partners, please email info@youngcamdenfoundation.org.uk.

If you’re 16-24 looking for work or job advice, check out the range of partners in Camden Council that provide bespoke employment and training advice to Camden residents.

Your Future has been setup to help make it easier to navigate the services available, provide one to one advice and signpost you to the right support based on your needs.

There is support for:

• Employment support and apprenticeships
• Education and Training
• Work experience

Click here to read more.

Powerful video from Wac Arts about a young person's thoughts on the first lockdown in 2020. Covid 19, lockdown, job loss, daily death count, lack of human interaction…

"I don't know what will happen at the end, down the line, but lets stay hopeful for better days to come.."

Video credits to Wac Arts and Fitzrovia Youth in Action.

Kooth is a free, safe and anonymous online wellbeing service for children and young people.