From the Shetland Isles to the Channel islands covering a range of urban and rural setting across the mainland of the UK Co-ordinators descended on Edinburgh for the YouthBank UK Residential Co-ordinators event.Three years have passed since the last UK co-ordinators residential event so debate, information exchange and collaborative learning were long overdue and greatly appreciated by all who attended.
Scottish Advisory Forum
Dumfries Meeting
The second gathering of the 2010 Scottish Advisory Forum came together in Dumfries. This meeting took place in the Cairndale Hotel, Dumfries and when all arrived, the main meeting room was a buzz of conversation of what lies ahead. With 16 young grant makers and 5 YouthBank Coordinators in attendance, this provided representation from 9 local YouthBanks from Caithness to the Scottish Borders.
SAF meetings bring together young people from all over Scotland who take their level of volunteering in their local YouthBank, to the next stage and volunteer their time to take the voice of their local YouthBank and their own voice to national discussions which will inspire a continuous flow of ideas for the future development of YouthBank Scotland.
SAF Meeting 2010
Scottish Advisory Forum
The first SAF meeting of 2010 took place at Park Hotel, Falkirk on 13th & 14th March 2010. After a number of last minute call offs; twelve young people and six coordinators from 7 YouthBanks came together to debate all things YouthBank. The forum engaged in lots of different tasks, discussions and creative thinking and collective problem solving. Established and new SAF members worked with and separately from their co-ordinators in a varied programme. The answers and suggestions from these activities were collated to provide YouthBank Scotland with direction for the year ahead, with intentions of filtering out to local YouthBanks, up to date information on local and national YouthBank issues. Co-ordinators met to discuss support requirements, accredited training, using the YouthBank Information Centre YBIC, supporting Big Splash! applications and generally share what they do and how they do it with each other.
YouthBank Scotland Voxur
Young Grantmakers Share Their Expeirence
This is a collection of comments by young grant makers involved in YouthBanks, where they identify the skills that they have gained through their YouthBank involvement.
Dounans Outdoor Centre Aberfoyle - 13th and 15th October 2009.
The second annual YouthBank Scotland residential took place at Dounans Outdoor Centre in Aberfoyle between 13th and 15th October 2009. Forty young grant makers from eight YouthBanks spanning from Dumfries and Galloway to Caithness gathered to take part in a range of indoor and outdoor team building activities, public speaking and presentation skills training, information sharing workshops as well as the design and production of the YouthBank radio advertisements. The YouthBank piggy bank was a feature of the programme designed by the young people of the Scottish Advisory Forum. The programme brings fun informal learning to young grantmakers equipping them with relevant transferable skills to take back to their YouthBanks as well as heart warming experiences and stories to share with their family and friends: what youth work does best.
YouthBank Scotland
YouthBank Scotland had its official launch in Edinburgh between the 15th & 17th February 2009 as part of the first ever YouthBank Scotland national residential. The residential brought young people from YouthBanks across the country together to creatively share their YouthBank experience using drama, animation and song writing, all of which presented or performed at the launch. See animation
YouthBank Scotland is creating and supporting additional participation opportunities for young people and youth workers involved in the YouthBank UK network in Scotland. YouthBank Scotland is a YouthBank UK and YouthLink Scotland partnership, funded by the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland from 2008 until 2011. YBS has developed four accredited training certificates for young people; established the BIG Splash! development fund which will distribute £100,000 to licensed YouthBanks, a youth-led governance structure has been established and for the first time there is a dedicated staff team in Scotland. For further information about YouthBank Scotland or developing your own YouthBank contact Heather McVey.
YouthBank is an innovative grant-making and empowerment initiative run by young people for young people across the UK.
YouthBank builds on young people’s skills and experiences, to enable them to reach their full potential and to play a full part in their own communities. YouthBank enables young people to give cash for action, funding their ideas for the benefit of the community. This is an excellent model of empowerment and investment, which can be used in a variety of geographic and thematic communities.
YouthBank is more than just a way of giving out grants. It is about supporting and training young people to enable them, through grant-making and related activities, to benefit other young people and the community, as well as themselves. YouthBank provides a positive role for young people in their communities and, in turn, can improve the community's perception of them. YouthBanks directly contribute to the regeneration of communities and, by putting money into the hands of young people, ensures that their priorities are met.
Youthled or Youthfed
During the 2008 University of Strathclyde Generating Alternatives in Youth Participation and Empowerment Conference Heather McVey presented a paper: Youth Led or Youth Fed? Exploring young people’s leadership roles and the dilemmas associated to the youth workers supporting them in a YouthBank context in the UK.
