We celebrated youth work in North Ayrshire as part of the national Youth Work Week Campaign 2022
One social media highlight over the last quarter was National Youth Work Week. Taking place between the 7 – 13 November, North Ayrshire Youth Services took to the Council’s social media channels to celebrate the annual five-day social media campaign.
Organised by Youth Link Scotland – the theme for this year’s annual campaign was to highlight the importance of youth work in tackling poverty as the current Cost-of-Living crisis deepens. It also explored the reasons why youth work is so important to the young people who are benefitting locally and getting involved.
Youth Services teamed up with the Communications team to use the awareness week to give local young people the know-how to access the support and resources they need to help them and their families to navigate the current challenges of the Cost-Of-Living crisis as the focus for the week is poverty and inequality.
Youth work in North Ayrshire is at the forefront of the Council’s Youth Participation Strategy to make sure young people’s voices are heard and acted upon. It also plays an important role in providing safe and supportive spaces for some of our most vulnerable residents aged 12-25.
Showcasing the power of local youth services via a series of engaging photo highlights and video case studies, the awareness week included a host of vibrant social media posts including coverage of:
- Current breakfast clubs running across North Ayrshire
- Learning and development opportunities
- Reporting of the annual Joint Cabinet meeting between young people and the Council’s Executive
- A feature on the fantastic work of our Climate Change Ambassadors and how they are helping us to achieve our goal of becoming a net-free local authority by 2030;
- Promo on the different ways that Young People can get involved in Youth Participation such as via Youth Forum and Youth Parliament;
- How Three Towns youth and sessional workers are helping primary 7 pupils in their transition from primary to secondary school over the next six months;
- A look-back on the fantastic success of the summer festival for young people – YouthFest2022
- And a spotlight on the BeeYou Mental Health Ambassadors, an inspiring team of young people and Modern Apprentices who in partnership with MCR Pathways have gained a practical Mental Health First Aid qualification to become mental wellness mentors and help young people in their communities to better their mental health.
Councillor Chloe Robertson, North Ayrshire Young People’s Champion, also took part in the campaign, adding: “I share the Council’s vision to build a society that is fair and equal for all, where no one is left behind. So, I want to continue to ensure that young people in North Ayrshire are equally represented and can access the support they need, when they need it.
“Whether it’s at a school assembly, at a local youth club or at a future Council meeting, I look forward to meeting with our young people to raise awareness of the benefits of youth work and find out more about what is most important to them. I am confident that by presenting the views and opinions of our young people I can help to drive lasting, positive change and ensure that the voices of young people continue to be at the heart of the Council’s local decision making.”
But that’s not all…
Not only did the week celebrate young people, it also shone a spotlight of the fantastic community and youth workers we have at North Ayrshire Council, working day in and day out to make the lives of young people better throughout our six localities.
Including that of Donna Anderson (you didn’t think we’d forgotten to highlight your recent tremendous achievement, did you…?)
Youth Participation Officer, Donna (pictured above right next to Anne-Marie) is the proud recipient of this year’s Cyber Community Award at the Scottish Cyber Awards.
Hosted at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh on the 24 November, Donna was entered by her colleague Anne-Marie Hunter. The accolade from the Scottish Business Resilience Centre was extremely well-deserved – well-done Donna for your tremendous national recognition.
National youth work recognition
We caught up with Community Engagement Officer Anne-Marie to find out more about why she nominated Donna…
“Now in its sixth year, the awards recognise and celebrate stand-out individuals making a positive impact in Scotland’s cybersecurity sector.
“After her hard work over the last few years and the waves she made during the pandemic to keep our young people connected, I jumped at the chance to nominate Donna. I’m so, so proud that she won! I’m absolutely delighted for her.
“She has always ensured that her work is addressing online challenges and during lockdown, she quickly adapted youth provision (virtually) to ensure that young people in North Ayrshire could still participate in youth services and find support during that difficult and unpredictable time.
“Over the last year, Donna has also led a sector-leading pilot with Education Scotland known as the Cyber Community Volunteers programme. This saw 15 Modern Apprentices being trained to provide Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety support for young people and their parents or carers.”
Share your shout-out!
Remember, if you have a staff shout-out that you would like to share, please get in touch via: communications@north-ayrshire.gov.uk for your chance to feature your inspirational colleague in the next edition of Staff Talk.
“All work that Donna and her team do is at the heart of everything youth work in North Ayrshire stands for. They tirelessly promote the value of youth work and the importance of putting young people at the heart of planning and decision- making process of services and organisations.“Donna has also tirelessly continued to make sure that the work we do in North Ayrshire provides the necessary support needed to tackle issues such as online bullying and social media peer pressure. I am delighted that she won this award putting a spotlight on the work that her and the team do in North Ayrshire.”
Anne-Marie Hunter, Engagement Officer
Find out more about Youth Work Week 2022 here: yww2022.pdf (youthlinkscotland.org)
Visit North Ayrshire Youth Services on the Council webpage: Youth groups and organisations (north-ayrshire.gov.uk) for more info on how you can get involved.
Watch and share some of our highlights by searching for the hashtag #ThisIsYouthWorkWeek on our Twitter (@NAYouthServices), Facebook (North Ayrshire Youth Work) and Instagram (@NAYouthServices) pages and help us to spread the word of all the opportunities Youth Work has for young people across the area.