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13/07/06: Havering Central Youth Council Launch Party!

The event that this photograph was taken at was the Havering Central Youth Council's Launch Party which took place at the Robert Beard Youth House, 233, High Street, Hornchurch, RM11 3XU on Wednesday 28th. June 2006.

The event was planned and facilitated by the young people of the Havering Central Youth Council's Steering Group to mark their transition from a steering group to a fully fledged youth council.
The steering group was set up in October 2004 to encourage young people's participation in decision-making and involvement in local democracy and the group have been working towards this aim for approximately 20 months, with support from the Havering Youth Support Service Youth Involvement Team.

The group have developed a resource request to have a Youth Office in the Town Hall, which was presented to Councillors last year, a business plan which outlines their objectives for young people's involvement within the community for the next two years and an information pack (which is shown in the picture) for young people to encourage them to get involved.

The event was publicised in all secondary schools, statutory youth groups, voluntary youth groups and other youth agencies i.e. Leaving Care, YOT, Looked After Children and other youth related groups. The launch party was envisaged as an excellent medium to try and recruit more young people to join the Havering Central Youth Council to represent their school or youth group and to raise awareness of the Youth Council's existence and to give young people a voice.

Over 150 young people attended the event, as well as the Mayor (Wendy Bryce-Thompson), Cllr. Andrew Curtin and the new Young People's Champion Cllr. Gary Adams, as well as professional people from different agencies and youth groups.

The young people in the picture are some of the members of the steering group from left to right:- Scott Knell-Daly aged 17, James Slaymark (Deputy MYP for Havering) aged 15, Elisa Della-Volpe aged 14, Thomas Hutchins aged 17, (Josephine Adekanmi MYP for Havering aged 16 member of the Elm Park Youth Action Group not HCYCSG member) and Billy Jones MYP for Havering aged 17. Other young people involved in the planning and facilitation of the event were Joe Bell MYP for Havering and John Benstead who were unfortunately not available for the photograph.

What next?

It's not too late to get involved!

We are still looking for more young people to become involved in the Havering Youth Council to represent their youth group, youth project or school/ college and take an active role in Havering Central Youth Council. There is also a funding sub group which will be responsible for developing the grant giving process of the government's Youth Opportunities Fund and Youth Opportunities Capital Fund and issuing grants to youth projects throughout the borough, which is also trying to recruit young people to become involved.

If any young people are interested in getting involved and want to make a difference within their community please contact: Lee Reeves, Youth Involvement Worker, Havering Youth Support Service, Robert Beard Youth House, 233. High Street, Hornchurch, RM11 3XU. Telephone: 01708 474290 or text your details to 07904971448.

Lee Reeves  Full Time Youth Involvement Worker I first joined the Youth Support Service in 1998 as an administrative assistant and was involved in the administrative development and provision of training courses for part-time youth workers.  I became so enthused by the work that I decided to try as a voluntary youth worker at the revellers Youth Club for young people with ‘Special Needs’ .  After six months I was appointed as Senior Part time Worker at both Revellers clubs, where I remained for five years. Although I found this work very rewarding, I have always been a strong advocate of young people’s rights to be involved in the decisions that affect their lives.  This has led people at times to consider me to be a ‘radical’ in the youth work field. I decided to further my youth work career by applying for a full time post, and was appointed as a trainee Youth Involvement Worker, which I started in 2002.  This role has proved to be a natural progression of my work with young people, where I enjoy encouraging them and informing them of their right to participate in their community, using groupwork and informal education methods and techniques. My work also involves managing a small and dedicated staff team to work on a huge variety of projects such as the Harold Hill Youth Action Group, UK Youth Parliament Elections and support, setting up a Central Youth Council, the elm Park Action Group, workshops in schools, Outreach work to promote youth Participation and active citizenship, meetings with MP’s, Councillors and young people; issue based work with urban artists, group residentials, youth conferences, youth festivals, environmental and community art based projects, accreditation and training including one to one work with young people to enhance their knowledge and skills.