This week is Youth Work Week!! Running from the 23rd to the 30th of June, Youth Work Week is an annual event that provides youth workers and young people with the opportunity to celebrate the achievements and impacts of youth work.

MTHA values the important role that youth work plays in supporting young people to reach their potential. MTHA runs a Youth Inclusion Project to help tackle poverty, reduce inequality, increase levels of educational attainment an employment, improve economic and social wellbeing, address health and other inequalities and increase young people’s participation in society.

In celebration of the positive work that is done by the Community Development team with children and young people, here is a snap shot of what has been achieved in the past 12 months.

Doorstep Sport

This is an initiative that is run in partnership with Street Games to help increase participation in sport and physical activity amongst children and young people living in communities of multiple deprivations. These sessions are fun, informal sports clubs that run at the right time, for the right price, in the right place and in the right style. As well as delivering a weekly Boxfit session at Pant and Dowlais Boys and Girls Club, members of the Community Development team can be found delivering sport sessions in streets of the communities where we have a high number of properties. In the last 12 months we have:

  • Had 1,507 engagements in our sessions.
  • We have engaged with 170 different children and young people
  • 47% of these have been female.

Youth TSSG

The Youth TSSG is a replica of the tenant scrutiny group that MTHA runs. The Youth TSSG provides the opportunity for the children and young people living within our homes, the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about the services that we provide and about the issues that are relevant to them around housing. The theme for this month has been safe streets, where children and young people can play safely. Debates have been had around parking, speeding and rubbish that restrict the access to play for children and young people. In the past 12 months 12 children and young people have sat on our Youth TSSG and had a significant input from a young person’s perspective on the services that we provide.

Trips

MTHA appreciate the importance that positive experiences have for the social and mental wellbeing of children and young people, so they are committed to help enhance the quality of leisure time of the children and young people who access the Youth Inclusion Project. In the past 12 months we have run 12 free trips, including a day kayaking on the Talybont Reservoir, and a trip to Aberavon seafront. Through these trips we have had 92 engagements with 26 different children and young people.

Summer Residential

Last summer we ran a five day residential at Borfa House, Port Eynon. The residential was free to attend and provided the opportunity for children and young people to learn, grow and develop. This year:

  • 14 children and young people attended the residential free of cost.
  • 6 young people gained an Appointed First Aider Qualification

 

If you are interested in getting involved with the Youth Inclusion Project, either as a participant or volunteer, then get in contact with our Youth Inclusion and Development Offer, Bethan, who can tell you more about the work that we do. She can be contacted on 01685 352839/07867359428, you can email her at bthomas@mtha.org.uk or why not follow the youth twitter account @MTHAYouth.