Bettws Newport Partnership
Successfully helping the young people of Newport to find the right path!
26 young people who were not in education, employment or training to gain valuable training and learning, dramatically reducing criminal re-offending.
Complementing the Communities First Vision Framework: The project mainly supports the Education, Training and Skills Theme of the Vision Framework.
Since last year, Bettws Newport Communities First have established an innovative and successful programme in engaging with young local people aged between 16 and 19 years who were not in education, employment or training (termed as “NEET”).
Bettws Newport Communities First staff team worked in partnership with the Malpas Communities First team in delivering the Learn-a-bout programme which provides vocational training for school children who have been expelled from school. The sessions included IT and ASDAN training which provides opportunities for learners to develop their personal and social attributes and levels of achievement where poverty inhibits such opportunities for learners. The programme also included sessions which were provided by the local Fire Brigade, in the form of the “Rap” project which shows DVDs of accidents and incidents, discussing the implications of how young people may be tempted to get involved in anti-social behaviour and how to react to those situations.
From the start, the 26 young people enrolled onto the programme were all school leavers with the majority referred by local youth services. Six members of the group were referred by the local police. This was a means of re-engaging some of the local young offenders back into education and training. The project delivers to a strong current focus by local and national government policy, as young people in NEET are a strong aspect of the local community make-up and especially as youth employment is particularly high during the current recession.
The project strongly supports all the key themes of the Communities First Vision Framework, but in particular child poverty; community safety; jobs creation; and education and training. It has successfully delivered strong levels of engagement needed to run a successful programme based upon knowing the right needs, matching services and delivery with individual local needs through engaging with local communities due to them being based in the area, and working with other local community groups such as Malpas Communities First to part deliver some of the support needed.
The results have been very positive and encouraging. Out of the 26 young people who started the programme last year, 21 are still involved on the Learn-a-bout programme, progressing towards further educational attainments, with some of the young people having achieved 5 or 6 GCSEs, where otherwise they would not have achieved anything. Other educational developments include work placements for the young people in children nurseries, old people’s homes, hairdressing salons, as well as working towards successfully gaining a place at college. Working in partnership with the police has provided an added insight into the criminal pattern of those young people involved in the programme. The feedback from the police has been again a great success, with the young people not re-offending since being involved on the programme. The long term benefits for the young people and their communities are looking good and promising.
The programme was quite challenging at times, but it proved to be a great learning model for all involved including the staff team who gave their all to deliver this service. In terms of retention of the young people, financial incentives were offered from the start of the programme, but it became clear that this was not the only incentive for them to continue with the programme. However during the delivery of the programme, it quickly became apparent that racism amongst the group of young people was a significant issue. The Communities First team, together with SEWREC (South East Wales Racial Equality Council), worked with the group to discuss more positive perceptions of other minority communities. To ensure the behaviour of the young people was appropriate and better managed, they were each issued with contracts of behaviour which lasted throughout their time on the programme – any mis-behaviour would mean they would loose their place on the programme and the incentives and support that went with them.
However the resources needed to successfully deliver a programme, in particular staff time, can be significant. Bettws Newport Communities First Partnership have delivered these activities in addition to their usual programme of support and did not fully appreciate at the start the level of staff commitment needed to support 26 young individuals. In future programmes, the staff team would work with fewer numbers of young people to ensure a more tailored and effective programme of support. From this pilot project, there is significant evidence of the need and success that comes with delivering the programme continually; however, as usual, this comes with a need to secure long term funding for the success of the programme.
One of the key successes from this project has been from working in partnership with other agencies more experienced in their particular role. For example, working with the local police has brought great benefit through supporting some of the more disadvantaged young people and guiding them through a structured programme. It has been realised that if such young individuals are kept occupied and supported effectively, not only will they benefit but the community that they live with will as well – which can only be a good thing! The local police have valued this support and as a result, have joined the Communities First Partnership Board to bring a more added focus to the development of the community. This has been a locally run project, based and delivered in the heart of the community. Project staff have benefited from the experience of working with disadvantaged young people, have got to know them personally and the staff have been identified as genuinely being there to support the community. The partnership have realised the importance of running local initiatives for local people….. and also the need to support young people when the going gets tough!!
For further information on this successful programme, please contact:
Emails: comdev1@btconnect.com
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