Agenda and minutes

It had been agreed that James would be Chairman and Jasmine would be Vice-Chairman for this meeting.

It was noted that James would be the Chairman and Jasmine would be the Vice-Chairman for this meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Youth Council are correct.

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 January 2019 were a correct record.

To receive a short presentation from the Samaritans.

Steve and Laura attended the meeting to explain who the Samaritans were and the purpose in the District and across the country.

The Samaritans provided a telephone network that allowed calls to be taken by volunteers across the country and with the new central server, these calls could be delegated  to anyone available in the network. All volunteers had to be over 18 years old  and they were provided with training and mentors. Calls were free and the Samaritans were funded through grants from the Government, local authorities  and donations.

Anybody could ring the Samaritans with all types of problems including exam stress, peer pressure etc.

Contact Details:

jo@samaritans.org or call 116 123.

To receive a short presentation from the CA.

Nnenna Anyanwu from Citizen Advice (CA) attended the meeting to discuss finance and budgeting techniques. Nnenna advised that many people visited the CA because they were unable to manage their finances and that this was a very important issue for young people to learn about and use in later life. It was the aim of the CA to attend schools within the District and provide advice and training for young people on budgeting.

The Youth Council took part in a number of activities and it was decided that Nnenna should be invited back to a informal meeting.

Nnenna advised that she would be attending Davenant Foundation School in March with regards to this.

ACTION: Di/Paula to arrange a date for the CA to attending a future informal meeting.

ACTION: Youth Councillors to speak with their schools to arrange the CA attending to talk about finance and budgeting.

Youth Councillors to report on school issues, achievements, events and training that they have accomplished since the last meeting.

Youth Councillors updated each other on youth council business carried out at school.

Chigwell School – Pupils were busy revising for mock exams.

Davenant Foundation School – The school council were resolving issues with the toilet facilities and refurbishment. Year 9 pupils were also receiving their immunisations this week.

Epping St John’s School – Year 9, 10, 11 pupils were attending a half term excursion to Berlin.

King Harold Academy – Tomas needed to introduce himself to the relevant support teacher and update the Youth Council posters and notice board at school.

Ongar Academy – Year 11 pupils were continuing with revision and would be sitting their mocks after half term. The school’s library had now opened.

Roding Valley High School – The school council had been discussing a charity event to raise funds for the EFDC’s Chairman charity. There were also two excursions to New York and Italy.

To explain and discuss the project.

WE R SAFE

Filming for 5 short clips for the project WE R SAFE were filmed in Loughton with Zak, Dan, Archie, Tom and Stan.

The films were based on 5 topics;

Realise

Run

Report

Resist

Reform

These included short films on Knife awareness; Smart thinking and knowing when to walk away; being safe and reporting an incident to Essex Police 999, online text 61016 or report through crime stoppers; and street awareness and keeping valuables out of sight.

All the filming had been completed and a draft edit would be sent to the Youth Council to view and then finalised.

The launch night for the project had been moved to June/July 2019 because of the election period and purdah, which prevented the council promoting the event. Promotion, merchandise and the set up of the launch night itself needed to be planned. Youth Councillors advised that most year 11’s still had exams in June and this may effect attendance and commitment.

ACTION: Gaby/Di/Paula to contact all Youth Councillors to determine what the last exam date was in June and confirm a date for the launch.

To discuss projects for 2019.

Gaby asked Youth Councillors to consider options for their next project. Funding had been agreed and allocated to the Youth Council and their project would need to be evidence based.

Following the #consequences assemblies carried out by the EFDC Community, Health and Wellbeing team, four issues of concern were raised by young people;

1.    Domestic Abuse;

2.    Mental Health;

3.    Gangs; and

4.    Bullying.

Other areas of concern were Nutrition and health eating, Curriculum for life, homelessness and online safety.

The Youth Council had been involved in a number of projects concerning mental health, bullying, and gangs. Youth Councillors felt that domestic abuse may have been raised because of young people being aware of how serious the issue was rather than huge amounts of young people suffering. The Youth Councillors also discussed the potential of holding another conference to find out the issues of concern.

ACTION: Beckie to place EFYC Projects on the next agenda and Youth Councillors to consider ideas and evidence for future projects.

To update on the progress of the Youth Activities Map.

Paula advised that the Youth Activities Map had been completed. There were a total of 44 organisations including the leisure centres on the map and this now required publicising and promotion. It would be launch officially alongside the 5 short films regarding gangs.

There was also an interactive map being created and photographs of the organisations were required. The sub-group would need to take photographs over the half term period.

ACTION: Paula to WhatsApp the Sub-group members to organise which members were to take photos of which club.

ACTION: Youth Councillors  to create a logo for the Youth Activities Map and

Di to report.

The Chairman of the District Council had requested assistance from the Youth Councillors to nominate two local youth projects that could benefit from his charity fund raising. Youth Councillors agreed to support the following;

(1)          Action for Family Carers – Young Carers Club who were based in Loughton; and

(2)           Epping Explorer Scouts who were based at Stonards Hill in Epping.

Furthermore, Youth Councillors decided to raise funds for their own chosen charity; Cardiac Arrest in the Young (CRY).

Fund raising would take place at schools with bake sales and Youth Councillors would need to arrange these with the relevant staff.

ACTION: Rene, Simran and Samantha to produce the school letters for all the Youth Councillors

To present the Youth Council Cup.

Di announced that the remaining two winners of the Youth Council Cup were Rene and Archie.

Rene was an outstanding Youth Councillor, who has worked tirelessly to promote the Youth Council’s work in her school and the local community. She was very innovative and always comes up with ideas on how to get young people’s voices heard. Rene’s confidence has grown immensely since joining the Youth Council and she was hard working and passionate about giving young people a voice.

Archie was very hard working and a worthy winner of the Youth Council Cup. Archie attended regular Neighbourhood Action Panel meetings as well as the Anti-Social Behaviour Group meetings in Epping and has a keen interest in the police and community safety work. He was extremely committed to his role as a youth councillor and was a great advocate for young people with his attendance at community meetings.

Rene and Archie would join Stan and Eleanor at the Chairman’s annual civic dinner on 15 March 2019 at the Marriot Hotel in Waltham Abbey.

There would be a future opportunity for 4 youth councillors selected to attend next year’s civic dinner so keep up the good work everyone.   

Youth Councillors noted the submission forms received and agreed as follows;

1.            Harlow Youth Council – March 2019 and EFYC would attend their meeting in April 2019.

2.            Young Essex Assembly                 Date to be confirmed.

3.            Equal Arts Hen Power project       Date to be confirmed.

(a)          Notices by Diane;

(b)          Notices by Paula;

(c)          Any other notices; and

(d)          Youth Councillor notices.

(a)          Notices By Di

Arjun and Suzie – It had been noted that Arjun and Suzie had resigned from the Youth Council because of school commitments. Officers thanked them both for their time and efforts as Youth Councillors.

New Youth Councillor – Di advised that Tomas had been co-opted onto the Youth Council as the representative for King Harold Business and Enterprise Academy..

Motiva8 – Di had 4 tickets for the event which was to held on 25 and 26 March 2019 at Epping Forest College.

Archie, Dan, Tom, Zak and Eleanor were interested in attending the event.

Snap the Stiletto – This was an exhibition at Waltham Abbey Museum. Youth Councillors could obtain tickets from Di.

(b)          Notices by Gaby

Attendance – Youth Councillors were advised that attendance was being monitored and anybody that could not attend should let officers know.

Taxi’s – These arrangements had improved and ALL YOUTH COUNCILLORS requiring taxi’s should contact officers by 4 pm the Friday before to confirm.

Any last minutes changes caused increases in costs and officers time.

To note that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 5 March 2019 at 19.00 – 21.00 at the Civic Offices.

To note that the next meeting would be held on Tuesday 6 March 2019 at 19.00- 21.00 in the Council Chamber.