Teignbridge
Thank you again to The Lodge Skatepark for hosting the meeting. Dawlish Action for Youth and Space Youth Services attended.
Key issues discussed-
Issues with the Small Grant Fund discussed, over subscription to this fund indicates the stress the finances of many groups are under at present.
Dawlish Action for Youth have received some funding from their town council, county councillors locality funds and the NAtional Lottery Awards for All.
Funding for Universal Youth Work currently very hard to obtain from any source, despite its proven benefits to young people. Nearly all funding is tied to “projects” or “new work” which excludes large numbers of clubs relied on by communities that offer universal work.
There is a push for a focus on “mental health outcomes” and youth provision needs to focus on the wellbeing aspects of mental health vs the medical outcomes and push this back to those commissioning or funding services.
Shortages of volunteers continue to be a problem, currently all the trustees at Dawlish Action for Youth are having to volunteer in sessions to keep them open.
Ongoing shortage of more skilled youth workers, especially at leadership level but entry level posts are now being filled more regularly.
Most youth workers still have another job, even if they wish to make youth work their career.
Some groups nationally use corporate sponsorship to grow their workforce, could this work in Devon?
The Lodge Skatepark wanted to bring us up to date with their journey.
It started in 2014 with portable skate ramps and only 2 nights per week and is now open 6 nights per week, with some paid staff and a core of volunteers as well as freelance skate and scooter instructors who are self employed. Many young people also volunteer in exchange for free sessions in the skatepark, in a variety of roles. They offer volunteering to those aged 14+ and have mentoring and development plans for volunteers to help them gain skills, confidence and valuable experience from their time. Their current sessions are
Daytime, 9-5, often used by home school groups, 1-2-1 work from a variety of local providers, also school support for those at risk of exclusion or on a limited timetable.
Evenings 5-9pm with coaching sessions providing valuable income to cover extensive costs like insurance, rent and utilities.
Costs to end users are kept as low as possible by using a variety of income streams including birthday party hires and coaching.
The Lodge receives no regular funding from local government.
We were unable to think of anything to spend the network funding on but we look forward to any ideas from members.
The next meeting will be in 2025, it will be online and we will get the dates out before Christmas.
