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Kirklees Youth Council
Annual Report 2011/12
Purpose of this report The aim of this report is to provide some insight into Kirklees Youth Council (KYC); what it is, who is involved and an overview of a selection of key pieces of work that the dedicated team of Youth Councillors have undertaken over the last 12 to 18 months. The report has been compiled by a small group of Kirklees Youth Councillors who were responsible for researching projects, writing reports, interviewing other young people and adults involved in the projects as well as directing the design and layout of the articles. The articles aim to describe and clearly demonstrate the outcomes of the work undertaken by KYC and highlight how each project has contributed to influencing change in services, policy and/or procedures that affect the lives of young people in Kirklees. We hope you enjoy reading this report and we would welcome you to find out more about what we do by visiting our website at www.kirkleesyc.org.uk
Contents Page Purpose of this report...................................2 Meet the Editorial Group...............................3 A brief introduction to KYC...........................4 Profile of a Kirklees Youth Councillor.........5 KYC formal meetings................................6-7 KYC goes European...................................8-9 Making a contribution............................10-11 The web...................................................12-13 College network.....................................14-15 A two-way street..........................................16
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This annu al report was prod uced with support f rom Susa n Adams (V oice and Influence Worker).
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n u M a h s f A Name:
Age: 17 C: d in KY l e H n o Positi r Young resent) o f e e t p Co-o 1 to p es (201 e y o l p Em ment: Involve eship Survey tic Appren
Liam McQuillan
Name: Age: 18 Position Held in KYC: • Past Kirklees Youth 10) Councillor (2008 to 20 t (2005 to • UK Youth Parliamen 2008) Involvement: • Colleges Network • European Exchange • KYC Website Design
Jess Jess Senior
Name: Age: 18 Positions Held in KYC: • Youth Councill or representing Hud dersfield South (2009 to pr esent) • Co-Chair (2011 to present) Involvement: • Colleges Netw ork • European Excha nge
Likes winkle picking on Blackpool beach.
Laura Bowen
Name: Age: 18 Position Held in KYC: • Youth Councillor representing the Valleys (2010 to present) • Co-Chair (2011 to present) Involvement: • Colleges Network • European Exchange
Laura
Has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro 23 times.
Afsha
Was a gold medallist in gymnastics in the 1912 Olympics.
Zain Malik
Name: Age: 14 Position Held in KYC: Youth Councillor representing Dewsbury (2011 to present)
Liam
Is a former member of ‘Take That’.
Zain
Recently graduated from super-hero school.
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A brief introduction to KYC
What is KYC?
Kirklees Youth Council (KYC) is one way for young people to get their views heard in Kirklees. KYC is made up of 32 young people aged 11-19. Each young person puts themselves forward and is elected by other young people in their area to represent them. Unlike a school council, KYC aims to find out what issues young people have outside of school and helps to come up with solutions to those issues. This might include issues around health and well-being, community, money, jobs and opportunities, public transport and things to do. The overall aim is to give young people across Kirklees a way to have their voice heard about issues that are important to them.
The role of KYC is to: • R epresent the views of young people in Kirklees • Help make Kirklees a better place for young people • Listen to the views of young people about issues that are important to them and work together to come up with realistic solutions • Promote activities and events for young people in our area
What does a Youth Councillor do? • T alk to young people in schools, colleges, youth groups and other youth settings • Get involved in campaigns or projects on behalf of young people • Take part in regular meetings • Meet with important adults who are responsible for making decisions about issues that affect the lives of young people
Respond to the following statements with a ‘True’ or ‘False’: True False Young people need to be listened to True Young people have an opinion about issues that affect them True False Young people know what they want or need
False
Young people should be involved in making decisions about their own lives
True If you responded with ‘True’ to all of these statements, you are in support of the principles of KYC.
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False
Profile of a Kirklees Youth Councillor Youth Councillors don’t start off as a ‘complete’ package. Over time, through taking part in fun and interactive training and personal development activities, they soon acquire the skills and attributes needed to become confident in their role. Chris Gordge, describes how he has developed during his time as a Kirklees Youth Councillor:
How do you feel that you have developed personally? “I have developed in many ways throughout my time at KYC. When I first came to KYC at 12 years old, I was unable to talk in front of anyone. A few months later, I was doing presentations in schools and spoke at the ‘Big Picture event’ in front of hundreds of delegates”.
Key highlights which stand out in your development: “I have gained much more confidence and now can talk in front of a room full of people with no problem. I have also gained key skills such as time management and organisation which are really useful in the world of school currently! The role has developed me into a character that isn’t frightened of change and ready to give my views. I have met some amazing young people during my time as a Youth Councillor and the way that we have worked with them is quite inspiring.”
Chris Gordge
Age 15 Member of KYC from 2008 to present
Other comments: “The IYCE team* who manage and run KYC couldn’t have done much more for my development. The atmosphere around the place is nothing like at school… you genuinely feel you’ve got a place to go and people to talk to if you need support. Everything now is more ‘youth-led’ which is definitely a good thing. I think that we are growing bigger and stronger by the day!”
* The IYCE team (Involving Young Citizens Equally) is part of the Council’s Directorate for Children and Young People.
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Formal Meetings By Laura Bowen etings e m l a m r o e KYC f cillors the chance h t f o e s o n p Pur Youth Cou nd share progress e iv g s g n ti ee ions a Formal m their opin s s, their s e r p x e y ion maker is c e d h to formall it w activities YC’s. on recent th nd o er K a ts n e tu consti le
ab gs en sitive n i t e e po ve a hat mal m “For ople to ha choices t ” ure ees. g pe youn ce on fut e in Kirkl nce en eopl Influe influ ung p r Voice & o y t . affec d, Senio orker Sinea
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& who is inv The meeting olved s are held e very 6 – 8 w in Huddersfi eeks usuall eld Town ha y ll Council C sometimes hambers, b at the Unive u t rsity of Hud Dewsbury T dersfield or own Hall. T he formal m held in the ‘p eetings are ublic domain ’ and follow Meetings are a set Agend attended by a. all KYC’s an the elected d hosted by ‘Chair and D eputy-Chair frequented ’. They are by visiting s often p eakers who decision ma are usually kers from th key e public sec tor. The meeting s are used to update decis and the pub ion makers lic on curre nt projects fr restoration o m park to conventio ns for young things discu people. Oth ssed includ er e campaign ‘Road Safety group work Champions’) (e .g. and work w (e.g. the You ith co-optee ng Carer’s C s ard). “A lot o meet f planning ing, b goes Sinea ut they ar into each d “To m e ake th , Senior V& worth it!” I Wor e pro ker. cess a ‘Hot-s nd fun the both infor y incl mativ pot’ s ud e e Miche at and eve e a n lle, V & I W quizzes.” orker.
Tweeting & Liv e Web Casts Throughout m eetings
, members regularly upd ate their twitte r followers by tweeting k ey points and h ig hlights from the mee ting. In the su mmer of 2011, KYC lau nched it’s firs t ever ‘WEB CAST’ meetin g, where it we nt out live online. This g ained hundre d s of viewers, young and old who were able to watch the meeting fr om the comfo rt of their own home. T his involved a d iscussion on things to d o for young pe ople and a presentatio n on how they ca n ‘GET INVOLVED’. al form o a g n duri chance t e e v i l r a eting es KYC ce to sha e w T v i “ n g udie ting mee larger a nd now.” a er. ha reac the ‘here & I Work er V , form
Julia
Shaping Future Services A major strength of the formal meetings is that they act as a catalyst for debate and enable a direct dialogue between young people and adults who make decisions that affect young people’s lives. The meetings provide such adults with the opportunity to gather young people’s views and use these to influence decisions made. Plans are being made to develop further how these meetings can be used to influence policy and service delivery.
of debate “The standard etings is ing at the me n o ti s e u q d n a mitment hting the com g li h ig h t, n e klees. The excell ocracy in Kir m e d to le p o ssociation of young pe proud of its a is ld e fi rs e d rward Hud l and looks fo ci University of n u o C th u o lees Y oting youth with the Kirk orate in prom b a ll co to g es.” to continuin cross Kirkle tics at citizenship a cturer in Poli e L r io n e S , field. Andy Mycock y of Hudders it rs e iv n U e th
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In the sum mer of 201 1, five Kirkle Youth Coun es cillors; Jes s, Laura, L James and iam, Tim attend ed a 10 day European E xchange to Strasbourg in France n amed Lead the Future. Representi ng the UK, the Youth Councillors joined five y oung peop from each le of the five o th e r European countries; France, Hu n g a r y, Latvia, Spain and R omania . Tr a v elling by tra plane and b in, us the Youth Councillors out to learn set about Euro pean citize nship…
! s n e go pea o r by Jess u E
June 2011
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y… Preparing for our jo urne here! After So the exchange is nearly ork, meetings months of endless paperw the Future and risk assessments, Lead nt the is about to beg in. We’ve spe ney which las t few weeks raising mo race. It’s inclu de d a big 100 mile g for the been exciting jus t preparin king forward exchange! Everyone is loo an citizenship to learning about Europe and what influence that knowledge can have for our cons tituents.
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Making a Contribution The Children and Young People Plan (CYPP) is an in depth document which highlights the ‘vision’ and main priorities for how services are to be provided to children and young people in Kirklees. The Children’s Trust Board is responsible for the document. It includes members from Kirklees Council, the Police, NHS Kirklees, Kirklees Active Leisure, Strategic Housing, Job Centre Plus, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, and Probation Services. The CYPP is based on statistics and is reviewed and updated every few years.
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KYC’s Contribution to the CYPP A sub-group of KYC’s acted as a planning group. Their aim was to find out what they felt were the main priorities for children and young people in the Kirklees area and to collate their findings. They designed a questionnaire and distributed it to a wide range of young people in various different settings such as schools and colleges, youth groups, etc. The planning group received approximately 700 responses, from the questionnaire they sent out. From the information they gathered, they identified two key priorities for children and young people: Money, Jobs & Opportunities and Things to Do. Other issues highlighted included safety, transport, health and fear of crime.
“The Money, Jobs and Opportunities priority is a definite reflection on what young people are worried about in the current economic climate.” Julia, former V & I Worker.
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Following on from this research, the planning group then decided to carry out a consultation around money, jobs and opportunities as this was clearly a new priority previously not highlighted by young people. Consequently an interactive consultation tool was designed and carried out during young people’s events in Huddersfield and Dewsbury to gain a better understanding of how strongly local young people felt about this issue.
nir Afsha Mu
Influencing Decision Making The research highlighted the growing concern among young people in relation to money, jobs & opportunities. The findings of the research were collated and a report was produced for the Children’s Trust Board who agreed to include this as a priority in the CYPP. This proved to be a huge accolade as it was the first time ever that a priority identified by young people in Kirklees was recognised and subsequently incorporated into a high profile working document such as the CYPP. As a result, further research by KYC’s was commissioned by the Children & Young People’s Scrutiny panel which resulted in the panel putting forward future lines of enquiry based around GCSE option advice, short term employment and further education/ vocational training. “The fact that The Panel’s report is to be produced later this year.
young people have been involved in deciding what the key priorities are in their local area, surely must have improved the way young people feel towards documents that effect them.” Julia, former V & I Worker.
Further work has also been undertaken by KYC on the issue of ‘Things to Do’. Please contact us if you would like more information on this.
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The
Web By Zain Malik
anisation g r o y n a r fo It is vital nt message ta r o p im n a with ers to have th o h it w e r a to sh e sence on th a strong pre er ally in Octob n fi d n a , b e w to C were able Y K r a e y t s la launch their y ll fu s s e c c su e website. v ti c a r te in new
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Designed by a dedicated sub-group of KYC’s, the website offers a host of opportunities for young people. Through our website young people are able to find out about KYC and how they can get involved. It includes information on projects and campaign work undertaken and what’s going on in Kirklees and their local area. It also enables young people and adults (in particular decision makers) to interact and engage with KYC and other young people about important issues that affect the lives of young people in Kirklees.
use e l p o e ung p ey get in o y t w tha cause th page.” o n k “We bsite, be nt on our er. e k the w nd comme V & I Wor a ior, touch d Sen Sinea
Key benefits of the website:
Process involved in designing & building the website: Past KYC’s George Lane, Olivia Sanders and Liam McQuillan were instrumental in contributing to the process of creating the website. For over a year they met regularly with web designers to share their expertise on young people’s participation and made decisions about content, design and layout. Throughout the process their prime aim was to create a tool that would enable KYC to showcase and share things they were doing, involve and gather the views of young people and link with key adult decision makers to help influence change.
• E asy to use and interactive • Provides information about local and national events, campaigns and initiatives for young people. • Gives young people the chance to share their views and have their say about issues that are important to them.
Future opportunities for the website: • E ncouraging adult decision makers to use the website as a tool to invite discussion and debate, explore ideas and share key documents and policies that affect young people. • Encourage other young people not involved in KYC but perhaps other local organisations and community groups to share information about local community projects and campaigns they are involved in.
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Co
The College Network is a campaign group formed to develop communication between young people attending colleges and sixth forms throughout Kirklees and identify common issues of importance to them.
ge lle
In 2010, the College Network identified the cost of travelling on public transport as an important issue for young people. Following on from previous work carried out by KYC, the College Network began to work with Metro to explore ways in which the affordability of public transport could be improved for young people.
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As a result, the College Network surveyed over 850 young people to identify their main issues when using public transport. The survey found that young people: • U sed buses as their most preferred mode of transport and paid around £6-10 per week travelling usually during peak periods.
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• F elt fares were too expensive and often stopped them from accessing college or social activities • Found journey and fare information too difficult to understand.
Helping to Shape Service Delivery: The information was shared with the British Youth Council at Westminster, key decision makers in Kirklees as well as Metro and the report was used to run a development workshop at the University of Huddersfield. This resulted in Kirklees young people helping to develop the ‘Safemark’ training package delivered to all year six pupils in West Yorkshire about safe independent travel. This aimed to address the issues identified in the report about fares and journey information being confusing and the ‘unknown’ of who to speak to in regards to safety. Other transport issues raised by young people included: • C heapest subsidised fares ending when young people turn 18, as many young people stay in education past this age. • A pprentices receiving no financial support towards travel unlike people in full time education, despite their low pay. • T he impact the withdrawal of EMA has had on some young people being able to afford travel.
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In response to this information, Metro were able to highlight that many young people still do not own passes or access the cheapest fares possible to them resulting in them paying too much for travel. Suggestions were made to Metro about introducing flat rate fares, however Metro highlighted that this would mean that less well off young people living close to town centres would end up paying more for travel. As a result of the developed relationship, Metro also commissioned the College Network to help shape the service provided to young people by asking them to sample their ‘Day Out for a Fiver’ scheme. This led to them reviewing things young people could do for free throughout West Yorkshire, the accessibility of the places and activities, as well as additional costs. Other most recent work carried out by the College Network includes planning and running workshops for the ‘Buns & Banter’ event. This was aimed at bringing young people and key decision makers together to use information gathered to help shape and influence services such as the new Integrated Youth Service.
“We have built connections and a relationship with Metro.” Kay, V&I Worker
“It was great to watch the finished SafeMark films and see that our characters and ideas had been used. We could see how we had directly made a difference” Chloe, 18, Colleges Youth Councillor
by Liam McQuillan
“We were really pleased when Metro introduced the Metro Half Day ticket. We now have a cross service ticket for young people at half the price of an adults. Its great our information could help contribute to this” Asma, 18, College Network Member
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o w t A ay w t e e r st This Annual Report has given us a fantastic opportunity to share with you just a snippet of the work which has been undertaken by KYC over the past year or so. We need to know how effective we have been in helping to shape service delivery and influence change for the better for young people in Kirklees. In order to do this we need important people, such as senior managers and decision makers from the public sector and beyond, to tell us how they have used the information we have shared with them.
Our Future Recommendations: • E ncourage adults to feedback to us how they have used information from work carried out or discussions held with KYC and how they have or might use this information to help influence/shape services delivered to young people in Kirklees. • Encourage more young people throughout Kirklees to interact and engage with the website as a way to have their voice heard and share their examples of young people’s participation on a local level. • KYC becoming an intrinsic part of local decision makers planning processes • Managers and decision makers sharing with us how we can help to effectively influence decisions.
Want to find out more about KYC or any of the articles in this report? 01484 223603 youth.council@kirklees.gov.uk kirkleesyc.org.uk