In 2012/13 this Committee had requested an annual presentation from the Youth Council giving an update on the developing Youth Council programme.
Members of the Youth Council will attend the meeting to outline:
(i) achievements from the last year; and
(ii) the plans for the Youth Council for the coming year.
Minutes:
The Committee received their annual presentation from Epping Forest Youth Council giving an update on the year past and their future programme.
Speaking on behalf of the youth councillors were Jaymey McIvor, Chloe McKendrick, Joseph Pascoe, Doncho Atanassov and Matthew Tinker. They were joined by other members of the Youth Council.
They thanked the members for their involvement and loyalty to the Youth Council over the past eight years. Noting that without member support they would not be in such a strong position to represent young people’s views on issues that they cared about.
The Youth Council was elected for a two year period and they were now coming to the end of their term of office. Due to the recent completion of the Youth Engagement Task and Finish Panel, a review into the Council’s youth engagement function; the Youth Council elections were consequently rescheduled from March to November 2016 and the current youth councillors have been asked to extend their term until December.
Their highest profile event in their year 2 was the Youth Conference held on 9th October 2015. Their aim was to promote Local Democracy Week and they invited the local MP, Eleanor Laing to talk about her work in the House of Commons. About 90 young people attended representing nine secondary schools in and around the Epping Forest District. Among other things they had a ‘Make your Mark’ ballot where they voted on which campaign they would like to pursue in the coming months. The top item they decided would be the living wage for young people, secondly tackling racism and religious discrimination and thirdly emotional wellbeing and mental health.
It was recognised that emotional wellbeing and mental health were major issues in the district and was not always addressed by schools. The Youth Council was working with North East London NHS Foundation Trust looking at ways they could design a project to support young people in the Epping Forest area. They were currently designing an ‘Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Workshop’ to deliver to secondary schools.
Social media was an important part of their work as it not only promoted what they did but raised the positive profile of young people in the district. They now have 765 followers on ‘Twitter’ and 427 likes on ‘Facebook’.
They have also contributed to 14 consultations during the year and had representation on the Epping Forest Youth Strategy Group, the Police and Crime Commissioners Youth Forum, the Young Essex Assembly, the Youth Parliament, the Jack Petchey Achievers Network and numerous school councils. They have also all completed a Dementia Friends Awareness Raising session and basic First Aid course.
Volunteering remained a big theme for the youth councillors; they were passionate about encouraging other young people to volunteer and were working closely with their individual schools and had set up Youth Volunteer Days. In February they set up a youth volunteer day and were supported by staff from the City of London to help clear an area of woodland.
They were also looking at ways to break down barriers between older residents and young people. Over the years there were numerous intergenerational projects delivered by the Youth Council. Afternoon teas provided them with an opportunity to break down barriers and chat to the older residents about their perceptions of the younger generation and visa versa.
During their term of office that have secured external funding of:
· £1000 from the High Sheriff;
· £1500 from the Jack Petchey Foundation;
· £1500 from the Jack Petchey Crystal Award;
· £600 from the Think Big O2 for project work;
· £600 from the Young Lions Ambassador Award;
· £300 from the Jack Petchey Education Grants Scheme; and
· £750 from the Jack Petchey Small Grants award.
They have also collected donations of £500 from local businesses to support two intergeneration events. Making a grand total of £6750 over the last 2 months enabling them to deliver high quality projects. The Council could not have secured this external funding if it did not have an active Youth Council.
Notable achievements:
· At the beginning of 2015 the Youth Council received the prestigious High Sheriff’s Shield for their work on bullying awareness;
· Youth Councillors Matthew Tinker and George Miller were selected as “I will Ambassadors” for the Step up to serve campaign for their community and voluntary work;
· Evie Foster was awarded the regional Young Lions Ambassador Award for her work with the Loughton Youth Centre. She also received the EFDC Young Citizen of the Year Award 2015 for her charity work;
· Fatemeh Ekhteyary received the ‘Investors in Young People’s Individual of the Year Award and was also a finalist for the ‘Who will care’ Award during 2015;
· Jaymey McIvor received the ‘Youth on Board’ Award; and
· Hazel Towns, Chloe McKendrick and Julie Turrell received the Jack Petchey Achievement Award for their Youth Council work.
Each and every award raised the profile of Epping Forest District Council and the way that it values its local young people.
Finally the Youth Councillors welcomed the opportunity to take part in the Youth Engagement Task and Finish Review and thanked the Panel for reaching such positive conclusions on the future of the Epping Forest Youth Council and the wider Youth Engagement Commitments. They also thanked the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for their continuing support and giving them a wider voice.
The meeting was then opened to questions from the members present.
Councillor Murray said that he was very impressed with the quality of the presentation. He remarked that he was involved in the Youth Engagement Task and Finish Panel and would like to thank the youth councillors that took part for their input. He was also pleased to note that they were looking into the mental health issues that befell young people, and reminded them that they had a floating budget of £8,000 to call upon.
Councillor Sartin was astounded by the amount of work that they had fitted into their period of office and asked them if they had enjoyed themselves. She was told that that they had a good time during their tenure.
Councillor Girling noted their intergenerational project and wondered if they took any feedback to their schools to help counter the image of young people. He was told that if they got feedback that young people were anti-social then they needed to dispel that image and one way was to visit older peoples’ homes. In doing so they hoped to inspire young people and would welcome any suggestions on how to improve on that.
Councillor Neville thanked them for their participation in the Task and Finish Panel and wondered that with their interaction with older people, how their perceptions had change over time. He was told that at the start of the intergenerational project the older people thought younger people did not care about them; so they knew they had to work on this, not ignore them but to learn from them and clear up a lot of their misconceptions.
Councillor Mohindra thanked the officers for looking after and facilitating the Youth Council behind the scenes. This was echoed by the youth councillors who added that they had enjoyed their experiences on the dementia and mental health projects.
Councillor Wixley voiced his concerns about the increase in mental health issues in young people and why this was. A youth councillor said as a personal observation, that there was a lack of organisations that could speak to young people and a lack of projects to help them. The Youth Council’s project was very important and gave access to these services. Young people suffered from a lot of stress, there were a lot of exams that had to be taken nowadays which they had to fit into their personal lives.
Councillor Wixley asked what the youth wage rate was at present. He was told that it was £7.20 in the UK and £8.55 in London.
Councillor Murray said that it was refreshing to have people who answered the questions put to them and that the answer was unambiguous and understandable.
Councillor Girling applauded the maturity of the Youth Councillors and their raising of the £7000 in outside funding. He was told that it was only available to them because they were an active youth council.
The Chairman thanked the Youth Council for their excellent presentation, saying that they were a credit to the District Council and the officers, and wished them good luck in their future endeavours.