Frenford's Summer Jam

The power of volunteering and young people was on show at Frenford Clubs on Sunday 8th August. 75 young people from the borough helped make the event a runaway success. To celebrate the achievements of 80 years of Frenford's Youth Club, Frenford's Youth Committee joined forces with the vinvolved's Redbridge Youth Action Team to host Summer JAM, the ultimate youth event this summer! This was the first time that the two teams of young people have collaborated and worked together. They organised Frenford's Summer Jam to put on an event for the whole community; young and old. Rebecca Awan from the Youth Action Team said "it was initially a little nerve wracking working with a new team, but as time progressed and we got to know each other we learnt to work together. It was great to work with the Youth Committee and witness how passionate they are about the club. We managed to pull of a really successful event together! The two teams also managed to engage an additional 55 young people as volunteers on the day." Alex Hinds, a Youth Action Team member who compered the event added "after months of planning it was fantastic to see everything come together on day. And we all played a part in that." The young people had organised and arranged a range of activities for locals to get involved in on the day, including; street dance, graffiti, face painting, football, cricket, Wii and Playstation tournaments to name a few. There was also information stalls from vinvolved East London, Frenford Clubs, St Johns Ambulance and PCSO Safer Neighbourhoods. Frenford's Club is moving to new premises at the end of the year, the event was a thank you to everyone who has made Frenford's an outstanding success! Irfan Shah of Frenford Clubs commented; "To witness 'young people' plan and execute an event with over 50 plus young volunteers, has to be one of the most satisfying highlights of my time as a youth worker. The Frenford's Youth committee and the Redbridge Youth Action Team supported by Frenford, vinvolved East London, Changemakers and BTCV have made this event possible but notably a success. People approached me at the event and were extremely complimentary towards the young people who were volunteering at the event. This gives Frenford great hype as we approach a much anticipated move to the drive in October. I only hope that this event will be highlighted as much as the negatives surrounding young people usually are. Young people must be supported more now than ever as they face a steep rise in unemployment and I see volunteering as a tool to bridge the gap to employment."

Newham Youth Action Team host Shanti International Fundraising Day

Saturday saw Newham’s Youth Action Team dangling above the streets of Newham in the sunshine – all for a good cause, naturally. The Newham Action Fun Day was run by the young people of the Newham Youth Action Team run by vinvolved East London in Outdoors in the City, which brings extreme sports and activities to the local community. Sponsored zip wire leaps, bungee jumps, tug of war battles and sumo challenges were undertaken to raise money for Shanti International. There was a barbeque and even live acoustic music.

Over Eighty people came along, keen to take on physical challenges and raise money, and over £1,500 was collected for Shanti International to help build wells in India and also to help this local community venue in Canning Town- Outdoors in the City.

“It was a brilliant day, and I’ve never done anything like that before, it was nice that it was so close and that we did it for charity” says local resident and  Youth Action Team member Jennifer Mallari (featured in the photo) who celebrated her 18^th birthday on the day with a jump.  “The young people did a fantastic job of organizing it, everyone was really happy with it and we had such a good time.” Says Emma Holtz who works for Changemakers with Bryan Precious from the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers to support the Youth Action Team to carry out local projects in Newham.

The Youth Action Team's 'Youth Talk' event as featured in the Barking News!

Well done Adonis for securing press coverage for the 'Youth Talk' event, the collaborative efforts of both the Youth Action Team and UpRising. As mentioned in the above article; Tahseer Khan, Iman Hamouch and Adonis Leboho feature in the picture.

The Youth Action Team and UpRising bring to you 'Youth Talk 2 Police' @ Barking Town Hall

The North East London Youth Action Team bring to you...

This is an event to raise money for "The Dream Factory", a charity that helps to make the dreams come true for those with life threatening illnesses or severe disability aged between 3 - 25 yrs old.

The charity been running for 2 years now, and have already made the dreams of 42 people come true.

Patrons Include: Ray Winestone, Patsy Palmer, Vicki Michelle, Michelle Collins, Rt. Hon. Iain Duncun Smith, Dr Rory McRae, Larry & Dorean Golding.

So what we, the Youth Action Team, are doing is a three-legged sponsored walk encircling Valentines Park and as many times as it takes (minimum 5km)! And to give it a special touch, as this is of course no ordinary three-legged sponsored walk, we'll be doing it in our pyjamas! Some of us will even be parading in ADULT BABY GROWS!

The wackier the better, and remember we're doing this not just to be silly, but to make the dreams of seriously ill children come true. We are asking for a minimum of £10 worth of sponsorships to take part in the event. Bear in mind that could be something as simple as £1 from 10 people or £2 from 5 people. But we have full faith that you're all so much more convincing and motivated to raise more than just £10!

And of course, the more money you are able to collect, the more dreams you will be granting. So please get involved!

For a sponsorship form or if you have any queries, please email us on nelondon.youthactionteam@gmail.com.This event will take place on Sunday 11th of April between 2.30 and 5pm!

As well as this, we at the YAT, have decided on a briefing date, for all volunteers who wish to take part in one form or another which include: sponsored walk participants, stewards and general volunteers. This briefing will take place at The Downshall Centre On Wednesday 7th April between 6:30- 8:30pm.

Happy Computers: Apprenticeship for IT Users- Become Proficient in IT in Your Job!

Free Training for Your Staff, Aged 19-24


Happy Computers is proud to offer your organisation fully funded training, towards a level 2 qualification, for staff aged between 19 and 24 – provided they don’t have degrees.


IT User Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are high quality work related training programmes for those that want to improve their IT skills and develop their future prospects and career. In doing an Apprenticeship for IT Users you will gain a valuable qualification and gain transferable skills that will enable you to succeed in your chosen career. On successful completion of the programme you will receive City & Guilds certificates.

An Apprenticeship is a programme of learning and development that gives you the skills, knowledge and competence you need for your job. The programme consists of:

• An NVQ for IT Users (ITQ) – this proves your competence of using IT in your job.


• Key Skills (Communication & Application of Numbers) - these give you the underlying skills you will need in business


• Employment Rights and Responsibilities –ensures that you know the key rights and responsibilities you have whilst at work.


The apprenticeship includes an initial assessment to help identify your current level of IT skills, what you need to know for your job, and what you know already.


Length:

10 days of classroom training, plus one-to-one coaching & support


Timescale:

5 -12 months, depending on existing level of IT skills

Cost:

Free


To Qualify:

Must be EU citizen, be in employment, aged 19-24 and not have a degree


Requirements:

Must be confident in using a keyboard, Windows and a mouse. Additionally you must have used Word before and be familiar with entering text and using common features in Word. This is a level 2 qualification and not suitable for beginners.


Classroom Training Included

The core qualification includes the following classroom courses, each one day in length:

• Word • Excel

• Outlook • MS Publisher

• Access • PowerPoint

• Applying numerical skills in the workplace

• Improving your communication skills

• Evidence Workshop


The course consists of 10 one day sessions, one held each fortnight. Each training session includes a step-by-step manual and two years use of our telephone help-line, free of charge, on anything covered by your courses. You will also have full access to online learning materials, if you wish.


Your Portfolio: What you will be able to do:

To complete the apprenticeship you will need to produce pieces of work, to demonstrate your ability to use your new skills in your job. Examples could include:

PowerPoint: Create a presentation about your organisation, including images & automated slides.

Excel: Create a budget spreadsheet, including formulas and charts.

Word: Create a report, including images, Tables and Headers & Footers.

MS Publisher: Create newsletters and leaflets.

Email: Create an email distribution list, use attachments, signature, out of office and schedule meetings.

Access: Create a database, create queries using criteria, create and format reports.


These are examples. If any of them are not relevant to your job, you will instead produce work that is.


Free Bonus Course

Learners will be offered any course from the Happy Computers schedule, free of charge, once they complete the apprenticeship and achieve the qualification. Examples are 2 or 3 days courses in the following software:

• Dreamweaver • MS Project • Flash

• In Design • Sage • MS Expression Web

• Photoshop • Train the Trainer • Excel VBA



Why is it free? Where’s the catch?

There is genuinely no cost. It is a key priority for the government to increase IT skills in the workplace and Apprenticeships are the way it wants to achieve them. The qualification is therefore fully funded by the Learning and Skills Council.

Your commitment is to attend all the courses and complete your portfolio of work. This is vital: you will only achieve the certificate, and get the benefit of the courses, if you do the work.


Our guarantee:

You will be hugely more confident and more capable in using your computer by the time you achieve your qualification.


Provided by Happy Computers

Happy Computers is recognised as one of the highest quality IT training companies in the UK and has recently been awarded IT Training Company of the Year 2009 (Institute of IT Training annual awards). It has also been voted the best company in the UK for customer service by Management Today.


How to Book:

Contact Happy Computers on 020 7375 7300 or email at itq@happy.co.uk.

Mediabox Photography Workshop

Mediabox is offering young people aged between 13 - 19 from London, Bristol, Leeds or Birmingham the chance to work with professional photographers to create powerful photographs depicting their personal experiences of unemployment.

Just so it's clear participants need to be unemployed to take part, they will work with professional photography mentors to create images that reflect their personal experiences of unemployment. Young people will be asked to attend a photography workshop where they will come up with creative ideas and learn basic photography skills. This will take place on Tuesday 16th March at The Guardian HQ in London. They will then go back to their local area and with the support of their mentor they will take images and then come back to London on Friday 19th March for a final post production workshop where they will format and edit their images.

All travel and expenses along with youth worker expenses for all three days will be covered.

Those interested will need to email Jessica Odubayo jessicao@mediatrust.org with their age, which organisation they are from and details of thier current unemployment situation/the story behind being unemployed.

Closing date for all applications is Friday 5th March 2010.