Youth Projects
Outreach to Our Communities' Vunerable Youth
‘Double award win for the Pro Excellence Sports Academy’
The Pro Excellence Sports Academy (PESA) has been voted the London Borough of Islington’s ‘Sporting Team of the Year’ and ‘Youth Project of the Year’ at the Council’s annual Youth Awards. PESA Managing Director Julious Joseph and CEO Caric James, have been recognised as ‘giving 100% to their chosen sports and are driven to represent their local area and make the big time’ as well as ‘making a significant commitment to their chosen activity. They support each other through the good times and difficult times but above all succeed by working well together.’
PESA operate soccer academies that provide young, talented footballers with support to work towards fulfilling their dream of becoming professional footballers.
With one million young people out of work and jobs hard to find City YMCA is helping entrepreneurial young people to create their own employment. The new social enterprise has been set up by young people, supported by City YMCA London. Together they approached Islington Council and were successful in gaining a year’s worth of funding to run sports camps during the school holidays at the weekends.
As qualified Gym Instructors, Youth Workers, Stewards and Football Coaches their work allows them to offer young people the opportunity to get into employment and further training, to help them achieve a brighter and more productive future. “It’s not just being a football coach that matters; but my biggest reward is seeing young people develop.” Volunteering is a priority for PESA, as it allows them a chance to give back to their community and reach out to more young people. “Our aim is to make a difference in the life of individuals through the involvement of sporting activities.”
Ian Boyd, Youth Projects Manager at City YMCA says “PESA are made up of incredibly passionate, dedicated young people hungry to grow and develop their skills and their business. They are excellent role models and have a great manner when supporting other young people. They are developing their business skills and big plans for the future”
CEO Caric James says “I would like to thank everyone who has helped us win these awards, and just to say you can achieve any goals you set for yourself if you focus, work hard and have the right support network around you, once again, a big thank you to City YMCA.” I would like to leave you with our motto which is, “Closer to Perfection, Closer to Success”
For more information on PESA please visit: http://pesasports.tumblr.com/
The Incubator
YMCA has got young entrepreneurs down to a T!
Move over Lord Sugar, so long Stella McCartney, the YMCA's Remel Bakers is the new kid on the block.
Remel has been running a pop up YMCA stall for a week at London's thriving Whitecross Street market selling T-shirts and sweatshirts he has designed and printed himself under the name Nappy B.
It is part of City YMCA's project to encourage entrepreneurial young people to come up with business ideas and pilot them in action at the YMCA market stall. Young people come up with ideas and then work with the staff at the YMCA to make them a reality.
According to Ian Boyd, the youth project manager at City YMCA, 'it's a pleasure working with someone with the spark of Remel. This has given him both business and life skills to give him a great base for his future career, and he has really inspired us with this.'
Remel said: 'I've really learnt a lot. It's been really inspirational and I've got loads of new ideas for the future.'
Maybe we will see him on Dragons Den soon? If so, we're definitely in.
430 young people and members of the local community joined together with City YMCA London on Saturday 13th October 2012 aiming to try and break a world record for the largest number of people shooting basketball hoops in one day. City YMCA London was one of 58 YMCAs in England taking part in the YMCA's worldwide record attempt to get the largest number of people ever to shoot basketball hoops in a coordinated event over one day. The team of youth workers and volunteers were based in Highbury Fields, Islington. Over the course of the four hour activity, members of the public, many of them families and children were invited to shoot a hoop and take part in the Guinness world record attempt.
Gillian Bowen, Chief Executive of City YMCA London said “It was a great day and lovely to see so many children and families getting involved. I’d especially like to thank our dedicated team of volunteers who were instrumental in making the day such a success.” Volunteers from City Year and Sportmakers supported and acted as external verifiers. As well as counting the total number of people taking part in the event, City YMCA were also giving out prizes for the most baskets scored within 30 seconds. The event was supported by a number of local organisations including The London Lions professional basketball team; England Basketball, the sport’s national governing body and Waitrose, Barbican. The London Lions kindly donated 300 free and discounted tickets for upcoming games, while England Basketball donated 40 free basketballs. In total £3,700 was given in-kind or through donations taken on the day. Invented at a YMCA in 1891, basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world and the YMCA has used it as a way to empower people and promote a healthy lifestyle for many years. The global challenge aimed to gather five million people in YMCAs across the world. The attempt officially started at 8am on Saturday 13th October, local time in New Zealand, and ended in Hawaii at 5pm following the time zone progression around the globe.
It will be announced later this month whether a world record was broken once all the results have been collated.
Hoop Springs Eternal (click here for press release)
Did you know that the YMCA invented basketball? Don’t believe me, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_basketball
To celebrate this fact and to highlight some of the on-going work of the YMCA across the planet, a world record is being attempted: for 5 million people to shoot a basketball hoop, within the same 24 hours on 13th October 2012. For more details please visit: http://challenge.ymca.int/. City YMCA will be playing its part in this challenge and we would like to invite you to be part of it! Our event will take place at:
Highbury Fields (basketball/netball area) 12-4pm on Saturday 13th October 2012
You can support us through a number of ways; through taking part and turning up on the day, sponsoring our target of shooting 250 hoops within 4 hours as our part of the world record attempt, partnering with City YMCA, or just telling others about it. If you would like to support or sponsor us please fill in the attached sponsorship form or get in touch on 0207 549 0470 or donate at http://www.cityymca.org/make-donation/
Our aim is to make this a fun filled opportunity for young people and members of the general public to get involved, shoot a hoop and enjoy some of the other activities we will be providing on the day (sports, youth info, etc…) This will be an open event with all welcome.
We are planning a photo opportunity for any interested media between 1.30-2pm.
If you would like more details please get in touch.
We are delighted that one of our wonderfully dedicated volunteers has been nominated for an award as part of YMCA England's Youth Matters Awards 2012. MAXINE ADESINA stands in the 'Youth Volunteer of the Year' category of the awards. She needs you help to get through to the final - read more about her great work and vote HERE.
We currently have six community based projects running for local young people including:
Skilled Up
City YMCA is launching its Skilled Up programme which provides FREE English, Maths and Employability courses to young people, aged 16-24 years old that are not in education, employment or training. Please download the attached poster by clicking on the title/link above.
A Free bus pass and £5 training allowance will be provided for every 3 hour session attended. (Up to £15 per week). The Skilled Up programme offers Basic Skills qualification in:
- English Level 2 (equivalent to GCSE grades A – C) 1 – 5pm, every Monday from 4th June 2012
- English Level 1 (equivalent to GCSE grade D) 1 – 5pm, every Monday from 4th June 2012
- Maths Levels 2 (equivalent to GCSE grades A – C)1 – 5pm, every Tuesday from 5th June 2012
- Maths Level 1 (equivalent to GCSE grade D) 1 – 5pm, every Tuesday from 5th June 2012
- Employability skills Level 1 runs 1 – 5pm, every Wednesday from 6th June 2012
Venue: The Drum, 167 Whitecross St, Islington London, EC1Y 8JT (Ten minutes from Old Street tube). There are Limited FREE spaces available! For more info please get in touch with Clive on 0207 549 0473 or email clive.tachie@cityymca.org
PESA (Pro Excellence Sports Academy)
Are you between 13-19 yrs old? Do you live, work or train in Islington?
Do you like Football? Then the PESA soccer camps are for you!
PESA in partnership with City YMCA would like to offer your young people the opportunity to participate in our new October Half term Football Camp. The sessions will be run over the weekend at 10am-2pm. There is also the possibility of the best players receiving a trial at a Professional Club! If you know any young people who might be interested please email refer them via email by sending their names, along with their age, mobile number and postcode to andre.kpodonu@cityymca.org or 07940 172320. Please also provide any other useful info, i.e. learning difficulties or support needs.
Age range:13 - 19 years
Venue: Kings Square Football Pitch EC1
Date: The weekend of SAT 20th + SUN 21st October 2012 - the weekend of SAT 27th + SUN 28th October 2012
Each session will cost £2 or you can book in for a whole three weekend project at the discounted rate of £10. There will be 30 spaces available for each session.
Street Yise
Following a cut in funding the Drum Sexual Health Clinic regrets to announce that it will no longer be delivering clinical sessions (with a nurse + STD Tests) from April 2012.
We will continue to run Information, Advice and Guidance around Sexual Health as well as giving out free condoms through the Come Correct scheme. Drop in from 5-7pm every Tuesday @thedrum
Youth Engagement Project
As part of this Community Cohesion - Youth Engagement Project, City YMCA is providing four youth provisions (one in each Ward of the borough), the opportunity to support their young people to take part in our FREE six week programme, which will take place over six, two hour sessions.
Ideally these young people will be aged between 16 – 24 years old, be showing signs of challenging behaviour, involved in criminality or on the peripheries of gang involvement.
Session 1 – Youth workers from City YMCA will visit your provision to deliver a Police Stop and Search workshop which will also cover strategies to tackle gang and knife crime as well as anti-social behaviour. City YMCA youth workers will also identify training, education and job opportunities based on the Needs and interests of the young people. They will then be supported and signposted to appropriate agencies throughout the course of the programme.
Aim: This session will inform young people of their rights and responsibilities. It will also build a relationship between the facilitators and the participants.
Sessions 2 – City YMCA youth workers will revisit your provision with two off-duty police officers from the Islington MET and hold discussions around Stop and Search and the issues the young people may have.
Aim: This session will allow young people and police officers to understand Stop and Search from each others perspectives, acknowledging each others concerns. Positive and constructive discussions will be utilised in order to foster change and develop enhanced relationships.
Session 3 – Young people will plan and prepare their project idea.
Aim: This session will encourage active citizenship and community cohesion. Young people will discuss their locally identified issues and try to come up with a solution to the problem. Small achievable goals will then be set..
Session 4 – Young people will continue to plan, research and prepare their project idea.
Aim: This session will continue to focus on young people’s understanding on a specific issue.
Session 5 – Young people will continue to plan, research and prepare their project idea.
Aim: This session will encourage active citizenship and community cohesion. Young people will develop their team work and communication skills.
Session 6 – final session will be a Youth Forum meeting and showcase for the work achieved by the young people (police, young people from other provisions and other stakeholders invited to attend).
Aim: This session will raise public awareness of the positive work being carried out by young people and also promote community cohesion. It will also give other local young people the opportunity to speak about their local concerns.
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Volunteer Opportunities
Please click HERE for a list of all Youth Projects current Volunteer Opportunities. For more details please get in touch with us on 0207 549 0470
Football Works Project Evaluation report
We recently submitted our final evaluation report for the Football Works project to its funders, the Football Foundation. We recieved the following positive feedback:
YMCA Youth Matters 2011.jpg/width/207/height/189)
Andre Kponodu from City YMCA was announced as the winner of the YMCA’s 2011 Global Link Award at a national celebration in London on Monday 24 October, hosted by Radio 1Xtra’s Gemma Cairney and President of YMCA England, the Rt. Hon and Most Rev’d Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York.
Andre a dedicated youth worker at City YMCA, was recognised for championing the work of the YMCA on a global level. Andre continually inspires other young people about the international work of the YMCA and raises awareness of youth issues across the world. Andre was presented with his award at the Institute of Contemporary Arts by Gemma Cairney and Ken Montgomery, Head of International Affairs, at YMCA England, in front of MPs, trustees, and other YMCA young people and staff from across England.
Andre said: “It’s an amazing feeling to win the Global Link Award, it is such an honour! I love the work I do as a youth worker; it’s so important to enable young people to understand the bigger picture, that across the world we are all facing the same problems. I feel privileged to be working with YMCAs across the world as part of my job, and so to be recognised for this is the icing on the cake!”
President of YMCA England, the Archbishop of York said: “The young people and staff receiving their awards have all demonstrated outstanding achievements during the last year. Every finalist has showed extraordinary courage, determination and commitment to transforming their lives and the lives of others in their community. As president of YMCA England, I am delighted to have been able to share and celebrate these incredible journeys at this year’s Youth Matters Awards.”
Youth Matters is the YMCA’s national recognition awards, recognising the exceptional skills and talents of young people across the YMCA and celebrating the important work that YMCAs carry out every day in order to help transform the lives of young people. The YMCA Global Link award recognises a young person for their outstanding commitment to learning from, engaging with and participating in sustainable international partnerships with other YMCAs and YMCA young people from across the world.
Click here to view Andre's nomination video
A big congratulations must also go to Clive Tachie, City YMCA's Youth Projects Coordinator, who was named a finalist in the 'Youth Worker of the Year' category.
Berlin Youthwork Conference
As part of Andre's Global development work he recently visited Germany to support the work being done in developing the YMCA's future policy when it comes to Youth Work on an Eurpoean level. During his time in Berlin he kept a blog. If you would like to read Andre's thoughts please click here
After the Riots
City YMCA's work was recently used as a case study of good practice and published in the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) report 'After the Riots'. The report focused upon collecting evidence from the Voluntary and Community Sector on the causes of the 2011 riots and next steps for policy and practice. City YMCA's contribution can be found here in section 3.8, page 16.