New funding

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:03:00 +0000

The good news is that i have used my evaluation to bring in new funding from the Derry City Council Community Safety Partnership. This funding will enable me to deliver two new groups of young people at risk. The programme will help the young people look at their own behaviours and to make positive changes to themselves and their community. Each group will have £500 to complete their community programme. This is a very positive move to the programme and hope that it would develop new programmes in the near future. I will also have an external evaluation completed on this. The training pack is now off to the printers and will be ready at the end of September.

Goal4youth evaluation

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:07:00 +0000

Goal Setting workshop with youth

I delivered this project to a group of nine female’s aged 14-16 year olds who are not attached to any youth service. I first give a presentation to the group before asking if they were interested in taking part. All the group members agreed to the programme and we set up the first session that would take place two weeks after the presentation event.

Session 1

During the first session, time was a problem so it’s important that you ensure that you stick to the three hour session as the young people ask a lot of questions. Apart from that, the young people had a good input into the programme. A few of the young people also started to turn negative comments into positives.

I ask the young people to take home their files and complete two tasks. First task was to complete their reflection journal and to set themselves a goal to develop positive behaviour.

Session 2

I was delighted that all the young people turned up on time and excited about the programme. All young people completed their reflective journal and included some very positive comments. During the review, the young people talked about a very positive week they had. Having the commitment to carry out their home work was very positive. One young girl stated “You’re lucky I filled out the reflective journal, because I never do my homework.”

This week we spent time looking at vision boards, so it would be a good idea to do some research on the internet before this session and make up a few samples.

I asked the young people to set a goal where they would have to go out and do something positive for another person. I also set a goal to do the same and explained to the group my own personal goal and what actions i needed to achieve my goal. They all agreed and using markers they wrote their goal onto the vision page. Remember this should only be a small goal that they can achieve by the next week.

Session 3

Once again all young people arrived early with the training files in hand and feeling very positive. Young people where excited to talk about the great week they had. They are now starting to identify the positive moments and be proud of them. Two girls in the group are still not given 100% they feel it hard to understand at times. These two girls usually are the ones who play with their phone or ask what time the programme is over at. I hope that this will change of the next two weeks. The young people enjoyed doing the Life Wheel as it was a very simple method using the score system. You may find that you will run over your time as the young people love the review section and ask lots of questions.

Young people set a short-term goal from a low score on their Life Wheel. They will have to start working on this goal when they leave the session. They used their vision sheet to note their goal and actions.

Session 4

There is alot of information in this session therefore read this section a few times so you understand the content. I also rewarded the young people with their own personal note book to record their goals which they loved. Young people look at the four types of goals and listed what they wanted to achieve. Using the goal sheet ask young people to choose one or two goals and fill in the sheet. This will give them some understanding of how they write goals. They can then transfer this information into their goals book and add what ever pictures they need.

Session five the young people started to plan their community project. They have decided to build an outdoor classroom at a local special needs school. This will enable the children to spend more times in the outdoors. The group also has seven young males helping out aged 11-13 year olds. Today one of the young boys stated “Can we come back and help again, at least this keeps us off the streets and stops us from drinking and taken drugs”

The young people are very excited about starting the project and have completed their vision board. They plan to do the classroom project over 3 days with the help of others.

I was very surprised with the boys as they planted just over 100 trees and they also were excited about the project and asked to be involved. The open day is going to be a great opportunity for the young people to express to the media their roles in this project and hopefully encourage other young people to carry out their own community projects. From experience if a young person is enjoying the programme and ask for it to continue, you should spend time discussing how you can take it forward. For our community project we had a budget of £1,000 and we got 50 of the trees for free. Young people will also put a storage unit near the classroom for outdoor equipment.

The outdoor classroom

The outdoor classroom will be 10x6 meters which will consist of a windbreak, benches, fire pit and a roof made of heavy duty plastic sheeting, which can be taken down after session. The ground area is uneven and contains a lot of large stones and rocks, therefore the group will need to spend a full day to clear this area. Large poles will be inserted to pull the roof up during sessions, a bit like the two main tent poles. The wind break will provide that extra comfort in the winter time.

The outdoor classroom will be an exciting space for children to learn about the environment and provide circle time, storytelling, singing plus lots more.