Gloucestershire County Council’s new service to support the most vulnerable and at risk young people has launched.
Young people’s services are being transformed, with the county council supporting communities to get more involved in running general youth activities and focusing its own support on those young people identified as being most in need of extra help.
Targeting services at the most vulnerable young people will reduce the need for more long-term, specialist support and taking young people into care. In future, the county council will focus its youth support on these young people, with £1.3million going into early intervention and prevention work.
The council has already run projects targeting young people considered to be at risk, such as those on the fringes of crime, children in care, children with disabilities, young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) – and teenage parents. These successful projects will become the core of the new service.
In future, our focus will be on working within vulnerable communities where there is a high risk of young people not remaining in education and finding employment or getting involved in crime. We will engage them in positive activities early on, before problems arise or get worse.
A series of drop-in sessions are planned within these communities in every district during the summer for young people to find out more about what the new youth support service could offer them.
Some of these are open sessions and street-based work, while others will target groups such as teenage parents (Baby to Briefcase), young people with disabilities, young people in care and young people who are not in education, employment or training (Ready Steady Work).
A full programme of these events will be available at www.whatnowglos.co.uk and at youth support centres.
See full article: New Youth Service Ready To Start Case Studies Here: Examples Of Targeted Youth Work
The county council is retaining a youth support centre in each district as a base for the new youth support service, while community groups will play an enhanced role in delivering more general youth activities.
For more information about the new Youth Support Service, go to www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/youthsupportservice
