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A group of young people representing Connexions Oldham Advisory Board have designed an interactive ‘brick in the wall’ consultation in the Connexions centre to find out how they feel Connexions can combat youth unemployment and teenagers dropping out of education and training by writing it on a (paper) ‘brick’ and placing it in the(sticky) wall.
There has been a lot of attention recently on the level of 16-18 year olds Not in Education, Training, or Employment (NEET) however, Connexions are currently delivering a number of initiatives to help young people move into education, employment or training.
One such example is the Activity Allowance which has been running since April 2006, young people not engaged can be signed up by their Connexions Personal Advisor, into a programme of engagement and development activities for a maximum of 20 weeks. This has led to a number of young people in the borough going into education, training and employment.
‘Young people from Connexions Advisory Board, came up with the idea of the wall to find out what their peers thought the barriers to employment were, how Connexions could help them, and what support they need once they are in employment, education, or training.’ Explains Patricia Lyons, Young Peoples Empowerment Manager.
‘There is a negative image in the media of young people and jobs but we have a lot of clients who are actively looking for work and just can’t get it – including some students who left school with GCSE’s. We want young people to tell us why they think young people can’t get into education, training or employment.’
The wall will be in the Connexions centre for the next few weeks as the Connexions team collate all young people’s comments, to feed into the over all strategy to reduce the level of young people who are Neet in the borough. Young people can drop in to the centre Monday to Friday 9.00-5.00pm and 7pm on Thursdays. There contributions and comments to the wall are all welcome.
Some members of the Advisory Board, are to be been presented with Millennium Volunteer certificates acknowledging their voluntary work - some have completed over 200 hours. ‘There is a negative image in the media of young people but here we have a group of 13 to 19 year olds, from across the borough who manage to fit their voluntary work in with school, work and social life to improve services for young people.
‘Being a member of the Advisory Board is not all hard work we do have fun as well, get make new friends and do things we would not otherwise get the opportunity to do’ add Advisory Board members Hazera, Alima & Nathan.
Anyone aged 13 to 19, interested joining Connexions Advisory Board can contact Patricia Lyons on 07815 085 179.
