Young person from Jaywick joins local charity board
Posted on Fri 05 August 2011
Case study: Inclusion Ventures awarded £125,000 over 3 years
Jaywick, West Clacton, has recently been reclassified as the most deprived area in England (Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2010). The Indices, published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, studies deprivation across a set of indicators to determine which places are most deprived. The idea is to try to break out different areas which are all influenced by poverty. Jaywick sits comfortably within the Fair Share Trust area. The panel meeting discussed the ‘relegation’ of Jaywick into first place and although they agreed the news was disappointing they recognised that the score were ‘just statistics’ which will have been affected by changes in other areas. The panel felt strongly that the scores highlighted deprivation which is about lack of opportunity rather than the financial standing of local residents. They also recognised just how much had changed in recent years, due to an increased involvement of programmes such as Fair Share Trust and local authority interventions which work together to affect change. Below is an example of a Fair Share Trust project supporting young people into work.
T has been known to us (Inclusion Ventures) since the age of 12. He was lacking in confidence, quite shy and his younger brother was in many ways more of a worry to us; louder and more challenging. T was sometimes the butt of jokes in the wider circle of his peers who were battling to climb up the pecking order. Occasionally a truant from school, he was dominated by another young person who had a much stronger and less generous personality. T was only difficult for staff in that he was hard to motivate.
Over the past two years since leaving school he has really grown into himself. He is an earnest and polite young man. T’s motivation improved a great deal with support from Inclusion Ventures staff. He took part in a film project we arranged for young people not in employment, education or training and went on to complete health champion training and volunteered for a while on the Fresh and Fruity van.
T is one of the older young people who continue to pop into the Manager’s office to discuss any issues he has. He managed to get part-time employment in Morrisons, as well as an apprenticeship in a nursery. When the nursery was unable to finance his employment he approached our staff keen for help to gain more employment. It just so happened that our Administrative Director is a trustee for a local neighbourhood nursery and was aware of a vacancy. T had completed a Junior Sports Leadership award in school and followed it up with a level 2 in coaching football in school, and we were able to recommend T as an empathic and enthusiastic young man. He has now been at the Pre-school for 3 months and is completing a Child Development and Learning course.
In addition T has agreed to be a trustee for Inclusion Ventures providing a voice for young people and bringing a new perspective to our future decision making.