CLC Activity Agreement Pilot - Places are available! Refer now! Remember young people may be able to get a weekly allowance of £30, access to activities, discretionary fund to help with travel, clothes, courses and equipment and a dedicated PA. So if you are working with young people who are 16/17 and have been NEET for at least 13 weeks, please contact Bally Sappal or call Joe Brooke-Smith 020 7938 8080. Click here to view the AAP Course Calendar. 

 

Job Readiness courses - commencing 2nd July to 17 July 2008 including Life Skills and Motivation AT Birbeck College, young people will receive an in-house certificate on completion of a full day’s training. For more information click here, places are available, to book now email YPCourses@rbkc.gov.uk or call Joe Brooke-Smith 020 7938 8089.

One Drop Presents runs an ongoing programme of youth workshops, including poems, stories, lyrics (for songs or raps) or even personal or academic written work, which explore common problems through creativity. They also run a catering unit which employs the skills of disadvantaged young people in all aspects of delivering this service. For more information on either of these two initiatives, please contact Joseph Watters on 07865 225127 or email onedroppresents@yahoo.co.uk.

Free Theatre Workshops for Youth Organisations – As part of their summer youth programme, the Grass Market Project is offering a series of free introductory workshops to youth organisations, schools, theatres and community centres from July to September 2008. For more information on the programme, please contact Hannah Murphy or call 020 7307 8734. 
 
The British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards - Do you know any young person or group aged 25 and under who has made a real impact on an individual or their community, and is eligible to be nominated for an award? If so nominate here! Nominations deadline is 26th September.

BBC Young Speaker Competition – BBC TWO is looking for Britain’s Best Young Speaker. In an elimination show, thousands of 14 to 18 year olds will compete in a series of challenges that will test all their communication skills. The deadline to submit your speech is midnight 1 August 2008.

Young Muslim’s Advisory Group (YMAG) – The Muslim Youthwork Foundation is looking for 20 inspiring and ambitious young Muslims, aged 16-21, male and female, who can collectively reflect the diversity of the country’s Muslim communities.

Young Volunteer Leadership Programme – V has funded the National Children’s Bureau to run a three-year project which aims to support four volunteer leaders (aged 16 and 17) in each of the English Regions to develop and implement a local project on any issue they care about. The volunteer leaders will attend 2 two days residentials and will need to commit a minimum of 30 hours of their time. They will be able to receive Open College Network credits and if they volunteer for 50 hours they can receive a v50 award. The closing date for applications is 1 August 2008. For more information please email Geraldine Lowe or call on 020 7843 6830.

New advice service for children on human rights and equality law in England – ‘You’ve got the Right’ is a new confidential advice service for children on human rights and equality law in England from the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE). They can give advice over the phone or via email about the law, your human rights and what to do if you are being treated unfairly as well as put you in touch with other services that can help. This service is for anyone under 18 but they can also advise adults calling on behalf of children. Please email advice@crae.org.uk or call 0800 32 88 759. Lines are open Tue, Wed & Thur – 3.30pm to 5.30pm.

Islington Summer Uni - will be delivering a programme of activities over the holidays from 28 July – 22 August 2008. The courses are open to 10 - 19 year olds and are completely free to attend. To enrol, young people need to visit the following website www.summerunilondon.org/islington Previously enrolled young people simply enter the e-mail address they used to register in the box saying "username" and enter their password to use their previous information.

Reel Change – is a new Tower Hamlets Summer Uni project called Reel Change, young people will be producing a documentary outlining how young people think the £79 Million London Youth Offer could be spent to improve the lives of young Londoners. They are searching for opportunities where the young film makers can visit projects, particularly those which focus on improving the lives of young Londoners, so this is your chance to shout about your project. If you are interested in this opportunity and would like more information, please contact Joanne Whalley on 020 7183 3220.  Please note, it will be the young film makers' decision as to whether your project will be included in the documentary.

Free training for young people: Youth At The Table – Participation Works is offering free training for young people between the ages of 16 and 25 who are already charity trustees or would like to become one.  This course will develop young people to be more effective members of a trustee board by equipping them with essential skills and knowledge required for the role of trustee. This event will run in London on 4 October 2008.

Keeping the Family in Mind – Barnardo’s has launched a new report Family Minded to raise awareness of the stigma that surrounds mental illness and the need for all services working with a mentally ill parent to ‘think family’. The report includes stories based on interviews conducted with children and young people from Barnardo's projects across the UK who have a parent living with mental illness. Download the report here.

Mixed Parent Families – The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published new research on how couples parenting across ethnic categories and mixed religious backgrounds understand difference and instil a sense of belonging in their children.

Safeguarding Children – Think tank Civitas has published a new study arguing that child protection measures are creating an atmosphere of suspicion that increases the risks to children. The report argues that adults are reluctant to interact with other people’s children and will not necessarily help children in distress or rebuke children who are misbehaving. A summary of the report can be downloaded here.

The Paralegal Practitioner – a free monthly e-newsletter, which offers careers advice to those interested in becoming a paralegal paractitioner. To sign up please send your name and email address to newsletter@InstituteofParalegals.org.

Schools' Role in Promoting Pupil Well-being - Draft Guidance for Consultation: The 2006 Education and Inspections Act laid a duty schools to promote the well-being og pupils at the school. The duty came into effect in September 2007. This consultation draft offers guidance on school role in promoting well-being in many ways including developing the personal, learning and thinking skills that employers value; delivering the September Guarantee, and ensuring that young people have good quality, impartial advice and guidance at the right time, that raises aspiration about course options and career choices, working with other schools and Information Advice and Guidance providers. This will greatly support the work of Connexions in school. The closing date for comments is 26th September 2008. Click here for more.

Government publishes action plan to implement Byron recommendations – A comprehensive plan for how the Government intends to make the internet and video games safer for children and young people was published this week by Children’s Minister Kevin Brennan, Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker and Culture Minister Margaret Hodge.

Morgan Inquiry Reports On Future of Volunteering For Young Adults – The Morgan Inquiry has published its findings on the future of young adult volunteering. The six month independent Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Morgan of Huyton looked at all aspects of volunteering among young adults including the reasons why young people volunteer, barriers preventing then from volunteering and how volunteering could be further encouraged among 18-24 year olds.

Child poverty – The number of children living in poverty in the UK has risen according to the annual poverty statistics published by the Department for Work and Pensions. The figures show that 2.9 million children are officially living in poverty in the UK – up 100,000 since 2005-06.

Preventing violent extremism: A strategy for delivery – The DCSF has published new resources on preventing violent extremism.  The delivery strategy explains the government’s plans to strengthen institutions and help communities resist violent extremism. The guide for local partners gives detailed guidance to support front line practitioners, and includes children’s and youth services. 

Volunteering – The Cabinet Office has produced new guidance on criminal records checks for volunteers.  It is designed to help cut unnecessary red tape and responds to concerns voiced by the voluntary sector that potential volunteers can be put off if they are asked to undergo a CRB check without good reason.

Young Runaways Action Plan – The DCSF has published its Young Runaways Action Plan.  The plan sets out how government, local delivery agencies and the voluntary sector should work together to put in place services that will prevent young runaways coming to harm and provide them with the support they need.

Rights of the Child – The four children’s commissioners covering each country in the UK have joined forces to report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Their report argues that children’s rights have worsened in some areas and in others there has been no change since 2002.

Sport England has published its strategy for 2008-2011.  It commits Sport England to deliver on a series of targets by 2012/13.  These include delivering a 25% reduction in the number of 16 year olds who drop out of key sports, and making a substantial contribution to the ‘sport offer’ for young people. 

CLC Training courses - there are still a couple of places left for courses available in July: Achieving National IAG Standards course on 15/07/08 and Group Work Skills course 18/07/08. To book your place log on to the CLC online training system here! You can also view and book courses available for the rest of the year.

Participation: The Essential Tools & Resources – This one day conference, organised by Participation Works, will explore the available tools and resources to support children and young people's participation in a range of settings. This event will take place on 18 September in London.

Barnet College: Foundation Degree Integrated Youth work and Support – The Foundation Degree in Integrated Youth Work and Support at Barnet College in partnership with Middlesex University is a flexible modular programme.  The course is especially designed for those wanting to develop a career working with young people in a variety of settings.  The multi agency and integrated working now required in all Children’s workforce developments, underpins the curriculum and delivery of this innovative programme. For more information please contact Ruth Miller. 

University of Greenwich are organising an Open Day for the BA Youth and Community Studies 9 July 2008. You will have the opportunity to meet the Youth and Community Studies staff team and some current and ex students who will be available throughout the day. The session runs from 10am -2pm and you are welcome to drop in. If you have any further questions please call Mark Potter on 0208 331 9503. 

A Youth Led Research Project into Gangs and the use of Weapons in London – Organised by Race On The Agenda (ROTA) this youth-led project aims to provide evidence-based policy recommendations around the existence of gangs and the use of weapons in London. The event will present the findings of a two year project which combined desk research, training and fieldwork with young Londoners from all backgrounds. This event will take place on 21 July 2008.

The Lefevre Trust provides funding to support innovative projects between young people in France and the UK. It aims to improve understanding between the UK and France by enabling young people aged 11-19 to visit a partner group and further develop a joint venture. Funding is available for groups of young people from across the UK and France. For more information click here.

Creating Flourishing Youth Provision Seminar - organised by the APYCO this one day seminar on the 9 September 2008 at Aston University explores the use of evidence-based coaching as a tool for supporting staff who work with young people.  The course is aimed at Heads of IYSS and Senior managers in IYSS; Strategic leads for youth work, Youth Offending Services and Connexions Services. To register a place please fill in the booking form. 

Making Integrated Services Work: joining up your workforce strategies – This event is a joint event in partnership with London Councils, Communities and Local Government, Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Department of Health (DH). It will provide the opportunity for participants from across London to discuss their challenges, give feedback and share best practice. This event takes place on 23 September 2008.

Well, the experts seemed unanimous that it is not a blip. They vary in the severity of downturn they predict, but the prevailing opinion (and the one currently supported by GLA Economics) is a comparatively ‘benign’ downturn, rather than full blown recession.

It started with the US ‘sub-prime’ loan crisis. Financial institutions stopped lending to each other with none of them wanting to be the last one holding the risk, in a sort of toxic pass-the-parcel game. Consequently they are now more nervous about lending to us as well with mortgage rates and the costs of corporate borrowing going up.

The two sectors all agree will be affected by the downturn are the financial services sector and construction. Estimates of job losses in financial services vary from 500K in a full recession to 130K in a downturn, with something like one half of losses in London. In construction it has already been reported that new house building in 2008 will be at less than half the 2007 level and many large developments due to start in 2010 onwards are on hold. One prediction was house prices to fall by 25% over the next three years.

If we avoid recession Connexions clients looking for work might avoid the worst effects of the difficulties in the financial services sector. Many of the junior admin jobs they enter will be in business services, rather than finance itself and this sector is predicted to hold up better. Construction, however, is already decreasing in terms of employment of central London residents and for the next couple of years entry is likely to be even more difficult.

If the downturn is worse than currently predicted the loss of employment could be felt across more sectors. Retail is currently holding up well but could be badly affected by a full recession.

On the positive side 2010-11 is when most are predicting the upward trend will return – when those starting a two or three year FE or HE course in autumn 2008 will be leaving.

Keep up-to-date with the current outlook at www.london.gov.uk/mayor/economic_unit/glaepublications.jsp