Maypole Centre

BASIC INFORMATION

Case study date: September 2005

Local authority in which project based: Birmingham

Date started: July 2002

End date: ongoing

Type of organisation: statutory youth service

Brief description, including aims and objectives

The Maypole Centre provides planned programmes of support to young people in the Druids Health area within a target age range of 11-25. It seeks to improve personal and social development and assist with entry into education, training, employment through programmes on sexual health, substance misuse, adventure and sports opportunities, alternative education, personal development, mentoring, peer education and arts development. The Centre's 'Innov8' programme provides in-depth support to young people at risk through a one-year development programme funded by the Department of Health. This funding ends in March 2007. The centre is one of few statutory youth service outlets with a contract with Supporting People to deliver housing related floating support to 40 young people at any one time, assisting them to move to independent living.

If initiative as a whole is a collaboration between different agencies, please give details of lead agency and other partners

Birmingham City Council Youth Service, Connexions.

Funding - please list amounts, sources and timescales

Various funding streams including: ongoing Youth Service funding (120k per annum); ODPM Supporting People (£104k pa to 2007); Connexions, via Youth Service (ongoing at £28k pa); income generation for children's services (on-going at £40k pa); Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (£20k to 2006); Capital refurbishment grant SRB5 (£440k pa to end July 05). The Centre's Innov8 programme also receives funding from the Department of Health's Young Person's Development Programme (2004-2007) at £73k.

Staffing: number of FT/PT/volunteer staff. For partnerships, please include staff from all agencies

Centre employs a Centre Manager, Youth Worker, Connexions PA, Children's Service's Manager, YPDP worker , TASS Coordinator and Admin Officer full time. A number of PT workers, volunteers and support staff assist with the running of programmes. A Substance Misuse treatment worker based with Aquarius works from the centre.

NATURE OF PROVISION

Which groups of young people does the project work with and why? Please provide information on numbers, age range, gender, ethnicity and any other relevant aspects.

Project works with a target age range of 11-25 years. The Innov8 programme works with up to 30 young people aged 13-15 living in Druids Heath area, 50/50 ratio of girls/boys. We aim to work with 75% of young people in our catchment area as they pass through our age cohort.

How was the need for the project identified, and by whom?

Alongside a commitment for long term funding from the statutory Youth Service the service has been developed by staff and local partners to meet the needs of the community.

How do young people become involved? What, if any, commitment do you ask for?

Young people join on a voluntary basis - self-referral or recruited through Connexions, secondary school mentors, peer groups, housing officers, social services, YOT, community or family referrals. The Innov8 project asks for a commitment of between 6-10 hours per week over the year.

What are the main approaches used and activities offered?

Centre offers a range of development programmes including:

• Active Start- an accredited core skills programme offering sessions including basic skills, ICT, vocational training designed to re-engage young people with employment.
• Sorted drug prevention/education programme using information, visits to agencies to raise awareness.
• Sexual Health Education for young women and Sexual Health and Fitness Training for young men.- programmes using drama, workshops, theatre performances, visits to agencies and residentials to raise awareness of health, sex and relationship issues.
• Urban Artslearning skills in music production and street dancing.
• Maypole Action Group (MAG) media programme equipping young people with skills in interviewing, creating and distributing questionnaires, operating video equipment as a means of exploring views and ideas about the community.
• Sports and fitness and outdoor activity programmes offer health and personal fitness advice and using a range of activities to raise aspirations, eg. mountain biking, climbing, dry-slope ski-ing, water sports programmes.
• Summer Connect programme offers opportunities for young people to engage in volunteering and peer mentoring through assisting with planning and delivery of the summer play scheme aimed at younger children.
• Innov8Young People's Development Programme assigns a key worker to offer one-to-one support to young people throughout a range of programmes over a one-year-period.

How are young people involved in shaping the project/programme?

Young people agree own personal development programmes and are involved in regular group meetings. Summer Connect programme trains volunteers to shadow workers and deliver a two-week play scheme for younger people - volunteers are involved in planning, delivering and supporting activities. Maypole Action Group (MAG) creates opportunities for young people to gain information from other young people about how they would like to shape their community.

How does the project respond to the needs of different young people, particularly the most marginalised?

Targeting young people identified as being at risk and/or in need of intensive support. This process is often carried out with local partners including health and social care, housing, police and schools.

OUTCOMES OF WORK

How do young people benefit from their involvement in the project?

Improved self-esteem, improved attendance at school, improved relationships with parents/carers, improved grades at school, reduced risky behaviours, portfolios, destinations in training, education or employment

How do other young people, organisations or the wider community benefit from the project?

MAG got involved in Birmingham Young People's Parliament's discussions on the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill and consulted other young people in the community on their views of the estate and its facilities and presented their work to local decision-makers - the work has helped establish contacts with those responsible for community facilities, housing providers and police.

Does the project contribute to community cohesion? If so, how?

The Centre is based on an outer ring estate which is managed by one of the largest Tenant Management Co-operatives in the Country, the Druids Heath TMC. The project has been integral in not only developing the sons and daughters of tenants but in creating an environment where local people are actively involved in their community. To increase community cohesion the project works on micro issues in terms of relationships between young people and families and neighbours to wider macro issues about local policies, facilities for young people etc.

How are young people's progress and achievements measured and recorded? Please include details of any accreditation offered

Getting Connected. Outdoor Activity Governing Bodies Awards.

MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS

How is the project evaluated and by whom? Please include both internal and external processes

NYA Management Information System tracks young people through service delivery options; Birmingham-Solihull Connexions Eclipse monitoring; on-going monitoring and evaluation by staff, parents, participants, producing interim and year end reports. Regular supervision and appraisal is given to staff in accordance with Birmingham City Council SD procedures. A year unit plan is produced as part of Birmingham CC Youth Service plan.

What are the findings of any evaluations (including Ofsted inspections) to date?

An evaluation of the Sexual and Health Education (SHE) component of the Maypole Centre's 'Curriculum for Adolescence' program has found evidence of significant outcome effects for the intervention with regard to reducing teenage pregnancy rates. The research contacted previous program participants and used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The main findings were:

• A lower than average under 16 sexually active rate for program participants, although this difference was not significant
• Contraception use the first time program participants had sexual intercourse after the intervention was reported at 92%, which compares with national published figures for contraception use among adolescents at first intercourse at 50% for under 16s and 66% for 16-19 year old
• A difference in the teenage pregnancy rate between program participants and the ward as a whole, although this difference was not statistically significant.
• Those who undertook the intervention at a younger age (13-14) were significantly more likely to use more than one type of contraception the first time they had sex after the intervention
• Of those who used more than one contraceptive method, by far the most frequent occurrence was for a combination of condom and pill (n=10), also referred to as the 'double Dutch' method.
• The proportion of respondents reporting always using contraception (i.e. may be said to have used contraception at last intercourse) was 83.5% for under-16s and 78.9% for over-16s, which is relatively high
• Interaction with 'parents' had the most significant effect on the sexual activity and behaviour of program participants, while 'friends' had the least significant effect
• While over half of program participants had visited the Brook since the intervention, this included a large proportion of participants who had not had sex yet, and there was no significant association found between visiting the Brook and sexual activity, suggesting that participants in the intervention were likely to visit the Brook for reasons other than directly related to sexual activity

The research will be used to improve the content of the centre's sexual health program. The finding of the research will be disseminated at a later date.

The research was carried out as part of an MA dissertation for the Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Birmingham. It was supported by funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

What factors help the work? Please be specific

Funding levels; excellent facilities including high level IT support; substantial activity budgets; staff who are ex service users; staff committed to long term developments; imaginative and flexible staff all with excellent sense of humour; relaxed working environments where staff have substantial ownership of their working areas; excellent relationships with partners; good admin support with management of own budgets (unusual for local authority), ability to network effectively. A can do attitude from all team members. Employment of young leaders who have progressed through from service provision.

PARTNERSHIP/MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WORKING

What other agencies do you work with (if not specified in section 1)?

Links with local schools and sports colleges, local housing management, local police team, local children's homes, probation, YOT.

When working in partnership, what is the distinctive contribution of your organisation/project?

Ability to deliver responses locally and quickly; ability to use our funding creatively; flexibility of staff in work roles.

Has this partnership resulted in greater collaboration or increased understanding between partners? If so, how?

Most definitely yes; we are seen as central and key stakeholders to local developments including estate regeneration and community cohesion.

STRATEGIC IMPACT

Do you consider this project to be innovative? If so, how?

The project is innovative in that it evidences the outcomes that can be achieved through enhanced funding for Youth Services in facilities that are 'fit for purpose'. It also indicates how Youth Services can embrace the desired outcomes of Every Child Matters in new and exciting ways. It is an innovative example of how youth work can transform young lives. It is an exciting example of how within the local authority framework local projects can still respond effectively and innovatively. It lights the beacon for excellence in youth services.

How do you disseminate the learning from the project?

The project welcomes evaluation from outside agencies and is establishing close relationships with academic institutions to undertake longitudinal research on the effectiveness of these programmes. All information is available on http://www.maypolecentre.co.uk/.

Has the learning from this work influenced wider organisational/service strategies? If so, how?

As a Department of Health National Pilot for YPDP good practice is being accumulated to influence national strategy. Locally in Birmingham our practice is informing the development of good practice as more units develop similar programmes based upon our approach. Staff regularly work with other agencies in Birmingham to deliver information and services to both other practitioners and service heads.

What plans do you have to sustain/develop this work?

We will continue to develop our structured approach to our work by seeking further funding opportunities to embed the approach in service delivery.

CONTACT DETAILS

Pete Norman/Becky Crampton
Maypole Youth Centre
Idmiston Croft
Druids Health
Birmingham
B14 5NJ

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