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5th Youth In Community Conference 2008
[SUMMARY—As just a delegate(?).]
(GBR) I can't remember the last time I attended a conference and not be a speaker. Anyway, the ticket was complimentary so good to be at the 5th Youth In Community Conference 2008 (last year it was called the NYA Youth Summit).
Conference Chair, David Walker, Editor of Guardian Public, opened. Talked about the 'stereotyping' which is in the media regarding young people and we have to work together to break down these. Paradox of young people getting blamed and big expetctaions placed on the shoulders. Users shaping the public services they access. Policy arena of joining public services together.
Andrew McCully, Director of Supporting Young People Group (DCSF). His presentation, 'Creating Opportunities, Building Futures', focussed on integrating an approach of services. Their aim is to improve the prospects for all young people. Most young people are on the paths to success already but a significant minority continue to struggle. We must focus on integration to enable further reform.
Jane Todorovic, Deputy Director, Communities and Local Government. Discussed Local Area Agreements and its relevance to young people through a new performance framework (case study). Shown the scariest flow-chart I've seen in a while.
Viv McKee, Director of Policy and Research for NYA covered 'positive activities' and participation. 2020 all young people should be participating in positive activities. Must be more than "bats and ball" (Alinsky quote). Should reflect youth work as a whole (start with where young people are and move them on). Young peoples view: fun, variety, real, and confidence. Communication is key—the content of the offer. Needs to have breadth, relvance, differentiation and progression.
Paul Cohen, CEO of Local Government Association discussed embedding public service agreement into local area agreement negtiations. There is an opportunity here though many challenges. One of them being how we view the world. Danger of the mechanisms becoming the issue. Accountable approach to targets and spending.PSA 14—increase numbers of young people on the road to success (specifically those at the risk of exclusion).
Rosalind Turner, Director of Children and Young People, Suffolk County Council talked about pooling budgets with integrated serivces and maximising the value from each agency (case study). Time for a whole system change. 50% of all budgets should have active participation of young people involved.
James Dunn, Ambassador of the Young Chamber of Commerce talked about their operations (case study).
Carole Aspden, PYO of West Sussex County Council discussed supporting active participation and their families in the commissioning and delivery of services (case study). Explored what commissioning means: operational, strategic, individual—and then the process involved (multi-tiered approach with children and young people embedded in the process).
Virginia Haworth-Galt, CEO Artswork discussing 'the culture offer'—delivering five hours participation to unlock talent and learning. Highlighted the English National Youth Arts Network (ENYAN). Access, resources and embedding were the major themes which kept occurring. Now five hours a week of arts and culture for every child (inside and outside school).
The conference was definitely policy-heavy, numbers were down on last year although was great to catch up with some old friends / colleagues and it was well organised.
There were a couple of development points: 'death by powerpoint' (by using too many bullets) was definitely in play, (no free wifi) the venue wanted to charge £20 for the day and finally quality of speakers (people getting chosen on rank and not presenting capabilities—an issue for any conference organiser).
Related posts: NYA Youth Summit
Filed by DK on June 24 2008
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