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Over the past few months, Charnwood Youth Councillors have been working towards a volunteering award organised by the Loughborough Lions Club. Currently four Youth Councillors have received their awards with others soon to be receiving them. The four that have recently received their awards were invited to a gathering with the Loughborough Lions club and were awarded by the Chairman of the group! Youth Councillors, Luke, Anjli and Michael achieved a gold award (100+ hours volunteering) and Rhea achieved a silver award (50+ hours volunteering). Youth Councillor Luke St Denis said "The Lions award gives young people an opportunity to be recognized for the contribution and the part they play in their local communities. It makes me proud to be able to take part in these awards because it makes me realize how much hard work I have put in to my community to help others". Youth councillor Rhea Heath doesn't plan to stop there either, she is now starting from scratch and building up those hours again in order to achieve a gold award "The lions award was a fulfilling and valuable experience of which I thoroughly enjoyed". The four youth councillors all received an certificate, a letter from the lions club and a badge.
Well done everyone!
On 20th April 2012 the Olympic Torch relay test event took place on the section of the official route between Leicester and Peterborough.
Charnwood Youth Councillor, Michael Meyerstein, was nominated by Charnwood Borough Council to participate in the test event for the Olympic torch relay. Michael said "It was an honour to be nominated to take part in the event. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that not many others will get to do. The whole experience was excellent".
Michael had to carry the torch over a 300 metre stretch, the last part of the leg at Loughborough university. At the end of the stretch Michael was greeted by Lord Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG).
The event was covered by many local and national radio and television stations and replicates the route the Olympic torch will take for the official relay.
On Friday 23rd March 2012 7 members of Charnwood Youth Council visited local young people who live in hostels and temporary accommodation provided by local homelessness charities. At the meeting, Youth Councillors explored the issue of youth homelessness and what could be done by participators and services to make them more effective.
This tied into Youth Councillors running a sponsored event entitled "Cardboard City" which saw them sleep rough for a night in cardboard boxes. This raised several hundred pounds for local homelessness charities.
The Youth Councillors found from their meeting with the homeless young people (aged 16-21 years):
- There is an urgent need for more affordable housing and supported accommodation to be made available. Some of the young people said they felt they stayed in temporary accommodation for too long.
- The homeless young people cited that they felt local youth homelessness and housing difficulties were triggered by poor education, poor coping skills, lack of self esteem, diffult family situations, poor parental support, over crowding in the family home and having mental health difficulties.
- Most of the homeless young people felt that the best support they received was from the voluntary sector and the charities.
- Many of the homeless young people felt hindered by the stereotyping and stigma that their situation gave them-making jobs and finding permanent accommodation more difficult.
- Nearly all the homeless young people cited that they felt they had a good directory of information about services and support targeted at them would help. Many stated that they had no idea where to go to find support and how to help themselves. They felt that such a directory would be very beneficial.
- Nearly all the homeless young people stated that they felt help and support wasn't given quick enough.
- Many of the homeless young people mentioned that they felt that training and work placements offered by Councils that targeted them would be a good idea to move forward.
In addition to Charnwood Youth Councils "Cardboard City" event, some video diaries were produced throughout the night for the local "Youth Shelter" to show at their conference style event. Some of the video diaries can be viewed on youtube, just search "charnwood youth council cardboard city" or follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFVSUN1hNmo
The votes have been counted and we are pleased to announce the results.
Members of Youth Parliament
- Karishma
- Poppie
- Helena
- Todd
Deputy Members of Youth Parliament
- Andrew
- Tamsin
- Omar
Thank-you to everyone who stood and everyone who voted.
August has been an extremely busy month for the youth council, with it being the run up to the start if the new school term, means that we kick the young mayor elections into over drive and the youth council have been working their little socks offs to prepare for all the publicity and hard work that is in-store for September. If you want to see what is going on with the young mayor elections check out the young mayor pages, or even apply to be the next young mayor!
Somehow the youth council memebers have found time to fit in the planning for the first young person's community forum and we're all getting execited as it all comes together and we can see how the event is going to run.
So august has been packed full of meetings and work and the youth councillers in melton should be proud of what they have done in such a small amount of time! Although i feel rather confused as i htought this was supposted to be our sumer holiday!
Keep your eyes peeled for us as September is going to be extremely busy as well!
The Young People in our Borough have asked for a Youth Community Forum. The Youth Council, Leicestershire County Council and Melton Borough Council are pleased to be able to facilitate this as follows:
Meeting: Youth Community Forum
Date: Thursday 16th September 2010
Venue: Scout Hut, Wilton Road, Melton Mowbray
Time: 4:00 for 4:15pm start
Finish: 6:15pm
Melton Youth Council who are co-ordinating this event are looking for people aged between 14 and 19 years old (14 and 25 for people with special needs) to take part in this exciting opportunity for the Young Voice to be heard. Please come along, ask questions and join in the debate.
This is an ideal opportunity for young people to bring issues of concern so that they can be discussed and is an ideal way of promoting their concerns to a wider audience so that they can be addressed. These issues can be local, national or global.
The Youth Community Forum is designed to offer young people the chance to tell us their views and priorities and have their say on activities and events happening in the Borough of Melton. This will ensure that our local councillors and government recognise the importance of Youth Voice and that the leaders and voters of tomorrow can be heard today. The outcome of a Youth Community Forum which will feed into the Community Forum will:
- give local people and communities an improved opportunity to tell us their views and priorities;
- based on working together with key partners - to present ourselves to the public in a clear way
If you are aged between 14 and 19 (14 and 25 for people with special needs) and you have a question you would like our Panel to consider then please email klawrance@melton.gov.uk or contact Kay Lawrance on 01664 502314.
Could you be Melton Borough’s next Young Mayor?
If you had your voice heard what issues would you raise?
This year Local Democracy Week is taking place between the 11th and 15th October, every year your vote counts. If the job of young mayor is not for you, you can still have an active role by making sure you decide who gets the job. Voting will be done in schools or via the post so keep a look out on this page for further information.
If you are:-
- Aged between 14 (by 1 September 2010) and 19 (or between 14 and 25 if an individual has specific needs e.g. a Learning Disability)
- Live, work or go to school in the Borough of Melton
It could be you!
What does being a Young Mayor involve?
- You would represent young people in Melton Borough
- You would voice the interests of young people to the Mayor, Councillors, and the Community
- You would attends events that interest Melton's young people, this includes Melton Youth Council meetings
This is the third year of the election campaign and once again we are inviting young people to take on the responsibility of becoming the new young mayor. Being the young mayor is a challenging role but you will learn new skills and have new experiences that you will be able to take with you into the future. You will have a chance to shine at public events, and meet a variety of people while in office. The most important part of the role is making a difference; you will be the face of all the young people and will have an opportunity to have a voice on their behalf.
Application Deadline
Don't worry! You have the whole summer to start planning and thinking about if this is for you. The deadline to put your name forward is the 30th September 2010. Make sure you start planning now; thinking about your campaign and what you want to stand for will help get you prepared to put together an Election Statement
Closing Date for Applications: 30th September 2010
How do I apply?
You need to complete an application form and read the information beforehand. The application form needs to be sent in before the deadline and you can do this by post, or by hand at the council offices listed. Signatures are required from guardians/ parents and your schools so you need to take this into consideration when sending the forms in the post.
Useful links
Omar Sharif, MYP for Dorset, is aiming to get 2000 signatures on his Downing Street public transport petition by June 4th, he’s nearly there with over 1700 - help him reach his goal!
That's right, the elections are fast coming upon us.
To find out if you're eligible for the post, find out more informations and apply check out. . .
http://www.thejitty.com/mym/apply.html
The "Melton Youth Council presentation team" will be heading into school in the coming weeks to give out more information and a chance for people to ask questions.
In the mean time either check out The MYC Jitty page for more information or see you school Connexions adviser, your school MYC rep or pop into Venture House on Asfordby Road on a Thursday @ 4pm to see the youth council.
Things happen quickly in Melton so watch this space!
April has been a slow month with not a lot happening because of the Easter holidays. However we are due to meet with the borough council democratic team this week, to organise the young mayor timetable for this year as it will soon be election time... time moves fast when you are working and having fun.
However after Easter we are now all refreshed and ready to go through the summer term . So watch this space...