RHYL YOUTH ACTION GROUP A Company Limited by Guarantee: 06395882

PROJECT REPORT

RHYL YOUTHBANK

INDEX:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. TRAINING THE YOUTHBANK

3. TAREGTS & GRANTS AWARDED

4. AROUND WALES & IN THE NEWS

5. PARTNERSHIPS & WORKING LINKS

6. AREA’S FOR IMPROVEMENT

7. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

8. FUTURE PLANS

9. NUMBERS OF YOUNG PEOPLE ENGAGED

10. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. INTRODUCTION

This report has been compiled for the RYAG YOUTHBANK. The project has been funded by WAG’s Local Environmental Quality Branch together with funding from other Welsh Assembly Departments, Comic Relief, The Tudor Trust, YBUK and WCVA Russell commission to enable RYAG to develop the first Welsh YouthBank. We are now part of a growing Welsh network of YouthBanks including Pembrokeshire and Swansea, with Merthyr Tydfil, Wrexham, Anglesey, and Gwynedd moving to establish their own YouthBanks.

Rhyl YouthBank is focused on distributing grants to young people to undertaken projects that benefit or raise awareness of the local environment in Rhyl, activities which are safe, supportive and innovative.

What is Rhyl YouthBank? Young people come together to form the YouthBank. They decide how grant applications will be assessed and who receives the money. The YouthBank is supported by local organisations that help with training, administration and provide support to the young people involved. Rhyl YouthBank offers a range of development opportunities for young people; opportunities to learn about and participate in their own community, to develop new skills and have new experiences, and to travel to meet other young people involved in YouthBank across the UK. Rhyl YouthBank provides a positive role for young people in their community and in turn can improve the community’s perception of them. Young people involved are able to directly contribute to the regeneration of communities and, by putting money into the hands of young people, ensure their priorities are being met.

2. TRAINING THE YOUTHBANK

Young people who form the YouthBank undertake a number of training events, during the last six months young people have undertaken the following;

Grant Making Equal opportunities Teamwork & Leadership Health & Safety First Aid Emergency First Aid ( C P R) Child Protection Food Hygiene Healthy Living Independent Living

Each young person will soon also be able to undertake the Princes Trust XL course and gain ASDAN qualifications by being on YouthBank.

Members also gained experience by going to a meeting with the National Lottery in Manchester and working with them on designing a new application form for national lottery grants across the UK and we also regularly send two young people to represent Wales on the YBUK (YouthBank UK) advisory panel.

As part of their training the young people designed their own new processes for accessing =, awarding and monitoring grants, below is the method they have chosen to access YouthBank Grants. Grant process and Projects. Rhyl Youthbanks method of analysing and deciding on Applications received.

Stage 1 1 of of application. application. Rhyl Base d Young grant makers use Pyramid levels Aged 11-25 years where they 3 + in group. assess that the application meets required criteria. Environmental

Is it Safe, do we need to help

Healthy Living/Sports.

Stage 2 of application

If YouthBank committee is unhappy or unsure of any applications they will contact and arrange an interview to clarify any issues that have arisen.

Stage 3 of application

YouthBank Panel will visit project to take video footage or photos and record the before and after affect.

Stage 4 of application

Youth will write to inform the group of its decision, with any terms and conditions and / or training requirements.

3. TAREGTS & GRANTS AWARDED

We wanted to achieve the following targets with our YouthBank programme.

1. To provide a “one stop funding and support package” To support, provide guidance and funding to a minimum of fifteen small scale environmental projects to be undertaken by young people in the community, with support from our partners and community leaders that foster a culture of intergeneration trust and friendship.

Current position: Completed, with an aim to continue and expand, with 18 projects already awarded funding to date, details of which are below.

2. To develop and produce a “top 10 “ wish list of LEQ issues by undertaking audits, interviews, questionnaires and group discussions with members of the community, voluntary groups and statutory bodies.

Following the completion of our initial community audit that highlighted LEQ issues as the highest priority for young people when asked “what don’t you like about Rhyl”, a copy of the report is enclosed and we are now developing a new consultation to look further into specific areas of Local Environmental Quality. We may yet decide to do this with another Participatory Budgeting event together.

3. To host a funding / fundraising event Workshops bringing residents, community groups and stakeholders together with appropriate funders and the “top 10 “wish list we hope that groups will work together to apply for funding to undertake larger LEQ projects.

We worked with Communities First and Participatory Budgeting to run a funding event where local people chose by voting a number of projects to be run in the local community, over 150 people voted on the day.

4. Facilitate Relationships To facilitate relationship building between stakeholders and grass routes residents/community groups to start identifying larger LEQ projects.

We have been working very closely with partners including Princes Trust, Rhyl City Strategy, the Probation Service, youth Inclusion Programme, Nacro Communities First, Crest, DCC regeneration unit and others to work together more closely with young people and the wider community to take forward new and enhance current LEQ projects, we have also been attending local LEQ partnership meetings to develop links and ensure that all work compliments each other and plan to work with them on a number of projects including the railway station enhancement.

5. Host LEQ event To Facilitate and host an LEQ event in Rhyl bring together stakeholders and community groups to try and identify new and existing issues that can be changed by joined up working, Ideally this will be held at one of the project locations or will include a visit to all the projects that have been funded.

We had planned to host our own event early in 2009, however we recognised that the LEQ partnership were best placed to do the wider scale events, with this in mind we concentrated more on ensuring that the Welsh Assembly polices and consultations are fed into and that senior stakeholders such as the first minister, secretary of state for Wales, and the host of ministers we have had in Rhyl get a full picture of how our YouthBank with LEQ grants has made a difference. We will also be launching results from our consultations to WAG with a private audience with First Minister Rhodri Morgan in the Senydd.

6. To regularly monitor and evaluate Over at least the next 2 years we want to monitor and evaluate the developments of project we have funded and the wider impact on LEQ issues, we plan to publish 6 monthly reports/heads up guides for community groups and stakeholders

We will also monitor separately with our own YouthBank monitoring tools which will be made available to yourselves, along with a DVD we plan to produce with our digital media suite.

Two DVD’s are going to be made about LEQ issues, we have almost finished making the first and are working on the other DVD at this time.

GRANTS AWARDED

Since the launch of our Youth Bank Environmental grants we have approved the following projects for funding.

Project 1 (Application YB- 01)

SAA Group a young group of local residents requested £2,000 to revive an area located central in there community, that had become overgrown and unused. There plan was to clean and decorate area with plants. Also adding Benches and memorial stone for the local residents to have a place of retreat. Around 30 young people are to be involved in this activity; it has also been used in our DVD “Rhyl’s Revival”.

Project 2 (Application YB- 03)

Marsh Mowers a project that was set up to benefit those in the Rhyl area who were no longer able to keep there gardens maintained resulting in local councils fining the residents. This is to be a free service where young people undertake tasks in the garden for pensioners and disabled the group were awarded £2,000 to purchase required equipment.

The emphasis on this project is to help build young peoples social skills and help break down barriers between young and old and this project should encourage and motivate some residents to get involved within their community and provide people with basic gardening skills OCN.

Project 3 (Application YB-04)

Growing together want to develop a community allotment at the rear of there building and encourage intergenerational gardening activities in the area. To get local people in their community involved in improving their community and to make sure these improvements last the raised beds have been built my young people (YIP and the North Wales probation service) so that people in wheelchairs can move around beds and plant with ease and watch what planted blossom like their community

Project 4 (Application YB-05)

A Rhyl college based programme called Skillbuild requested £2,000 To make a link between Rhyl college and the brickfield pond instead of people trampling down the existing hedge rows and fence disabled access kissing gate with be fitted and post rail together with surface path, hedge laying and tree planting will take place, this link will enable disabled people and people with learning difficulties who attend the college to sample the beauty and the wild life on the pond during their lunch this access can be used my the local community also.

Project 5 (Application YB -06)

“Recycle Your football kit” Set up by Rhyl football in the community project, recycle your old football kits and pass them on to underprivileged young people in Rhyl and Africa. A lot of people have old football shirts at home that are either to small or have just gone out of date due to the team changing to a new one every couple of years or when the team change sponsorship or just unwanted and in stead of just gathering dust we can recycle these unwanted football shirts this project is a great opportunity to remind people just how easy it is to recycle and what a difference it can make to other countries.

Project 6 (Application YB-07)

The kids fun club requested £1,630 this is an activity club for young people with special and additional needs, the project they wanted to set up was called the Nature Detectives where they have weekly challenges to teach young people all about nature out in there community.

Project 7 (Application YB-08)

These young people made a success of this project with marsh mowers but as this was staffed by the YIP initially, and when YIP made cut backs in staffing the young people could not carry on the excellent work they were doing in their community, spurred on by local residents they asked youth bank to help with their project again and to employ adults to supervise this project which cost £4041.88 The funding would enable them to run this project for another three months with this they could get also gain an OCN in basic gardening. We are looking to find funding to run this successful project long term and discussed this with Rhodri Morgan and Chris Ruane at a recent meeting, both have agreed to try and help support the gardening as it is helping the young people involved and the elderly & disabled who benefit from the work.

Project 8 (Application YB-09)

A street cleanup grant was allocated to deliver 4 street community cleanups or an 18 month period, County Council, North Wales Police, West Rhyl Community Wardens and our local councillors along with some 100 young people in total have attended the first two street cleanups organised, the first being on Valentines day 2008 when over 15 tons over rubbish was removed. These also bring together and build relationships between many different groups of people. The group have up to £4000 to spend over the events.

Project 9 (Application YB-10)

A group of young people and a youth justice worker are to purchase DJ equipment to encourage young people to think about their local environment, the group intends to work with other youths and help them to create their own songs about either the local environment, recycling or the Welsh natural environment. The attitudes of many young people are also hindering their participation in the environment and decision making. The social pressures and constraints placed on many young people today are enormous. The pressure to be popular, to do well in school and to be good at sports is all factors that stop many young people from participating. There is a general consensus among young people that political and environmental issues are not cool and this is certainly a major factor in the lack of participation by young people. However, although many young people do discuss many aspects of politics privately, because of this social constraint, they can do very little to participate.

Project 10 (Application YB-11)

Pupil Referral Unit (Project 10/11)

Project 10/11 is an alternative education centre dealing with young people who suffer with ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and young people who have been excluded from mainstream schools. They offer curriculum subjects but a large part of the work that project do with the young people is to help them gain confidence, social skills that they can use in the work place and independent living skills . Project 10/11 young people made bird tables, feeders and bird boxes these products made by the young people were given to local residents on a council estate in the west end of Rhyl the young people wanted the opportunity to make difference in their community and to show that young people can become positive role models for their community and challenge the stereotyping of youth as apathetic and disengaged the group were awarded with a £ 1000 grant.

Project 11 (Application YB-12)

School Phobic Group

The group are key stage 3/ 4 pupils who are experiencing or have experienced such emotional trauma or negative experiences that they have developed a phobia about going into school, the group were awarded with a £ 1,650 grant. The group will develop a small garden area of shrubs with a grassed area a small vegetable plot, herb garden area to promote wild life. The young people in the group will learn DIY skills by producing bird feeding tables making a small garden pond as well as creating a sensory garden. The young people themselves have a sense of purpose and achievement learning how to grow and the practical skills learnt whilst making there sensory garden these skills learnt can used in later life or use these skills as a career .The young people have also learnt with there effort during this project to have a sense of purpose and responsibility for their environment the result of this project will have a pleasing and beneficial effect on the local community. All the young people in this project have grown in self confidence and in their self esteem.

This is the before picture of the area that the group will be changing.

Project 12 (Application YB 13)

This club has been running for 15yrs and is the only club in the area that does not charge the young people who train there, the club is run by two ex professionals Mr Darryl Jones and Mr Edward Lloyd when Edward retired from boxing he was ranked number eight in Britain. They recognises that boxing, far from making children and adults more aggressive, can actually aid a student in their study, combat obesity and help improve fitness. With many kids left to their own devices with little to do it’s no wonder many turn to crime and drug abuse. Boxing, without doubt, increases self esteem and gives people a sense of worth and achievement. However the sticking point is funding. A major factor in the running of all amateur organisations is money for equipment and the general running of the club. Both Darryl and Edward would be grateful of any help no matter how little. With this two of their members who are also members of Rhyl Youth Action Group And attend the youth café approached Rhyl Youthbank for help but the criteria for funding had to be environmental, Rhyl Youthbank members are involved with many Community projects along with the probation service they have helping with the clear up of an old graveyard in Rhyl which the local pm Mr Chris Ruane has been involved So after hearing their plight the boxing club members helped with this project and the street clean ups organized by RYAG in which they worked very hard in the community Rhyl Youthbank decided to make a one off grant of £500 as they were willing to help local environmental issues

Project 13 (U Decide Application 5)

Kit out Kids The group were awarded £ 665.89 for them to improve There shop fittings within their recycling shop. The people who work in the shop have learning disabilities Driving force behind this group is a string belief that people who have learning disability benefit from appropriate working environments and that these can offer support and opportunities for personal growth and development Equally and importantly we demonstrate the valuable contribution that people who have a learning disability are able to make as a part of their community

Project 14 (U Decide Application 2)

Tenants Football Team The group were awarded £ 274.00 to set up and train a football team of tenants from West Rhyl and SW Rhyl, to wide ranging (male and female ) and primary persons with learning of physical disabilities. Primary aim to encourage intergenerational activity and to encourage persons With these disability off a sedentary life style

Project 15 (U Decide Application 13)

Grow To Eat The group were awarded £ 724.00 to purchase gardening tools, seeds and equipment for schools serving West and SW Rhyl whereby pupils will grow their own vegetables. The project gives students and staff the opportunity to learn more about seasonal growing, where are foods comes from and them the opportunity to cook with the produce they have grown. The children and the staff are very enthusiastic about this project and hopefully this is the beginning of a healthy And organic new year for all are schools.

Project 16 ( U Decide Application 18 )

Secure Bike Stand The group were awarded £ 587.25 to purchase a secure bicycle stand at Rhyl football ground for young people who do work experience at the ground the secure bike will encourage people who live locally to use their bikes instead of their cars or using public transport cutting down on emissions and promoting Cycling and the benefits it offers society in terms of impact on health and improvements in the quality of the local environment

Project 17 ( U Decide Application 21 )

Remarking Playing Field

The group were awarded £750.00 for this project to remark the ( M U G A Pitch ) Multi Use Games Area, this pitch has become a focal point for the local community surrounding the Rhyl Adventure Play Ground it has been somewhere the young people of the community can go and play football basketball, netball Throughout the year because of versatility of the M U G A However to play these sports had became a task due to the state of the markings on the pitch , this will be a thing of the past once work has started on remarking the pitch.

Project F1 (Application YB-F1)

A joint feasibility study has been funded, Nacro, North Wales Probation and Crest Cooperative are leading a working group to look at the possibility of developing the first batteries (AA, AAA ect) recycling centre in Wales as a social enterprise run from Rhyl, we are keenly awaiting the result of the study which is due in January 2009.

Please see attached report and study.

4. AROUND WALES & IN THE NEWS Our YouthBank has been closely watched from around the UK and Wales, we have highlighted the path for the rest of Wales to follow, we know already that the national lottery and Welsh Assembly Russell commission have shown an interest in what happens nationally with the YB programme and already the Community Foundation in Wales are working with YBUK to move the process forward, we have helped as much as we can by linking groups and people we know across Wales together.

Cardiff residential 25th- 26 th March 2008

Above Picture: Rhyl and Pembrokeshire Youthbanks unite.

Rhyl Youthbanks first residential to Cardiff where they were met by the 2 nd only current youthbank in Wales Pembrokeshire, the 2 groups came together to discuss how they wanted Youthbank to progress over the next 3 years in Wales. They built up an action plan and organised a promotional day where prospective groups interested in setting up there own Youthbanks, The Heritage Lottery Fund and The Welsh Assembly were present, for a day of fun and publicity building relations and networks so Welsh Youthbanks can progress and continue its success in empowering young people in Wales to become trained grant makers and have a voice within there local communities. The 2 day event was a huge success with a great bond formed between the North and South Wales Youthbanks.

Above Picture: Grace (Pembrokeshire YB) & Louise Morrell (Rhyl YB)

Our YouthBank also hit the street of Rhyl to promote the programme and encourage new members to join, 5 application forms were given out and 38 people were told about the project in an aid to raise awareness

We have also had a number of visits from Ministers who have been interested in the work we have been doing including Rhodri Morgan (First Minister), Paul Murphy (Secretary of state for Wales), Dr Brian Gibbons (AM) Andrew Davies (AM) Leighton Andrews (AM) MP, John Griffiths Deputy Minister for Skills, Anne Jones AM, Chris Rhuan, MP, Ed Milliband MP and a host of other ministers and National Government officials, we have enclosed copies of press articles about these visits.

Above: Rt. Hon Rhodri Morgan (First Minister) and Paul Murphy (Secretary of State for Wales) visit RYAG & RCS in October 2008.

Mr Murphy said Many young people who for various reasons have found themselves leaving education with few or no qualifications often find it difficult to enter employment,"

Through their youthbank programme and the range of activities and training programmes they have young people can find the right course to suit their needs. Sometimes all they need is a bit of encouragement to find the right path for them."

Dr Brian Gibbons Visits the new RYAG HUB.

YouthBank members recently visited the Senydd in Cardiff and had a private audience with the First Minister and our local AM to talk to them about our YouthBank programme and local issues such as LEQ, we also presented a copy of our report to Rhodri Morgan.

We also had our YouthBank recently featured on appeals night on BBC Children in Need, the video is available online to watch at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ft5rj/Children_in_Need_2008_Part_4_Top _GearAshes_to_AshesSugababesNewsreadersMamma_MiaLee_MeadDenise_Va n_OutenBoyzone/

Please fast-forward to 30 minutes and 10 seconds.

5. PARTNERSHIPS Below are just a few of the agencies and groups we have been able to bring together via projects and activities.

National Lottery (Heritage Lottery Fund) National Youth Agencies (YBUK Board) Children’s Commissioners Office Mentro Allan British Youth Council (Funky Dragon Event) Crime & Disorder Partnership Rhyl Town Council Rhyl Going Forward Strategy Oxfam Anti Poverty Support Network British Youth Council LEQ Partnership Rhyl City Strategy Princes Trust Nacro Probation Service Police Oxfam and the Anti Poverty Network Marsh Youth Group Communities First Rhyl College Project 10/11 Crest cooperative

6. AREA’S FOR IMPROVMENT

As an organisation we have developed significantly and have brought in a number of new policies, registered as a limited company, tightened our financial systems by bringing in independent financial consultants and we are currently bringing two new directors into our group, both are local business people, one being a county councillor and the other a financial and business advisor for Business Eye. We hope that along with new training systems for staff and directors these changes will move our group forward to a stronger and more focused future. This structural development has been support in many cases by our staff and where they have not been directly involved they have tried to ensure that young people/members are kept up to date with “what’s happening”. We feel we could do more around helping more young people get involved in running the group and will do this next year by bringing together a working group of young people to review and update our policies while also creating “young person friendly” versions that don’t have “big words” that we cant understand. We also need to look at gaining IIP status for our staff and make sure they are involved in doing this, this helps ensure quality services to young people and a consistent approach to what we do. Better accessibility to facilities/services is something we are trying to improve, we have recently purchase a hearing loop & RNID signs for the workplace guide, a baby changing unit and made some structural changes to our building however we feel we could do more by attempting to learn other languages, both verbal and signalled and also extended our training courses to cover diversity, all of which we will try to target in the near future.

We also need to try to encourage more BME groups to participate in YouthBank activities and are currently working on this by linking with the local Mosque.

7. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Please see the attached invoices and grant spend profile

8. FUTURE PLANS During the next few months we are planning to run an event with PB (Participatory Budgeting, The Anti Poverty Network and Communities First that will enable groups of people of all ages to apply for funding for a number of environmental projects in Rhyl, we want to include the LEQ partnership in this and as many other groups in the area as possible. The event would be an open forum where any groups of people can present their LEQ idea to everyone else attending, it is then left to all the people present to choose their favourite LEQ projects and these will be funded and supported to happen by ourselves and our partners. We hope this method will help groups and projects to be shared, and even though some might not get instant funding we hope the networking at the event will enable those not funded to move forward as partnership projects or be taken on by the LEQ partnership

We are trying to merge this event with a funding fair, so that while projects and ideas are being presented, hopefully funders will be able to link with those presenting them.

We are very proud of the work we do, and love doing it…

Thank you for supporting our work as without your help this report would be empty and everyone we have helped would not have progressed so far.

Rhyl Youth Action Group Limited

Shane Owen Project Manager On behalf of Rhyl Youth Action Group Limited

The world doesn’t revolve around us; we just help the world go around