The National Youth Agency - In the Know

In the Know - Issue 2, March 2007

Welcome to the second issue of In the Know – The National Youth Agency’s e-bulletin for young people. You may have noticed that the bulletin has a new name - congratulations to Carmel who came up with In the know and who wins £25 of vouchers!

Practice what we Preach event

The NYA recently held its first ever Practise What We Preach day – an interactive day to determine young people’s priorities for influencing The NYA’s policy practices. It was a real hands-on opportunity for young people to have their say on matters of concern to us. Thanks to this young people continue to influence what we do. More information>>

Also of interest...

Youth Work Week 2007, 1 – 7 November

Every year The NYA runs a youth work week for youth groups across the UK to celebrate what they do. This year’s topic is ‘All Different, All Equal’, a European campaign to promote human rights, diversity and participation for children and young people. The UK launched its All Different, All Equal Campaign in March at a two day event which brought together young people, government policy makers and project staff to explore how young people can contribute successfully to respect diversity, know about and defend human rights and to stand up against the discrimination of others. Tom Wylie, The NYA Chief Executive, announced that further resources will be produced in the summer to help people plan local activities for Youth Work Week 2007.

In the summer we will produce an information pack with resources to help people plan activities for the week. In the meantime we want to hear from you:

Got an idea you think others might want to use?
Want to tell others what you are planning?
Want to ask questions?

Whatever your thoughts, drop a line to Tim Burke and we'll provide feedback through these web pages.

Youth Opportunity Fund/ Youth Capital Fund

Are you aged between 13 and 19? There are two funds that could be for you. The Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) and the Youth Capital Fund (YCF) have been designed to work together and can help fund activities or projects. Find out more>>

Teen life check

A quick quiz-style on-line questionnaire for young people between 11 and 14 designed to give you greater control of and responsibility for your health and well-being by raising your awareness of risk and the range of local and national support services available to you. Do the Life Check to check out your health and be honest with yourself as the results will be personal and confidential. Take part>>

2012 School games

The government has announced the host locations for the UK school games. The games will be held in the West of England, Wales, Tyne and Wear and Sheffield. A new youth volunteering scheme will be launched alongside the games. The Youth Sport Trust progamme will give more than three thousand 16 - 18 year-olds the chance to become sports officials such as judges and umpires. More information>>

Young women

The European Youth Forum, an organisation made up of 90 national youth councils, is concerned that young women are not involved enough in political life and decision-making. It wants governments to address gender inequalities, and give women in Europe the same rights and opportunities in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making as men. More information>>

Minimum wage

From October the minimum wage for 18-21-year-olds is to rise by 15p to £4.60 an hour. The rate for 16 and 17-year-olds will increase by 10p to £3.40. More information

What young people want

A new report from the Make Space Youth Review, led by former MP and broadcaster Oona King has been published. The review looked at youth facilities and the current state of services for young people. The report calls on Government to invest more money – to create new style youth centres in every area offering young people a place to meet, activities, classes and specialist help if they need it. Read the report>>

Anti-obesity

A new report has found that parents often have no idea that their child is overweight and know little about the damage that it could do to their health. Following this the government has launched a new anti-obesity campaign to encourage parents to try to get children to eat healthier foods. More information>>

Spending on young people

The NYA carries out an annual survey to find out how much each local authority spends on services for young people. The results from the 2005-6 survey show that: In total, local authorities spent £107.5m on services for young people, almost a quarter of the total amount spent on education. On average this means that authorities spend £100 a year on each young person. More information>>

Volunteering

V, the charity that champions youth volunteering in England has launched an online gateway for 16-25 year olds in England. It offers blogs, advice, news and forums for young people to learn about volunteering opportunities. More information>>

Get involved

On 1st March 2007, BT Openreach challenged the nation to build a ‘mile of words’ to unlock their £50,000 donation to I CAN, the charity that helps children communicate. They achieved this. Now they want your help to go the ‘extra mile’ to help these children. It costs nothing to add your favourite word and you also get the chance to win prizes. Take part>>

Shoot Nations 2007 for International Youth Day

Shoot Experience is teaming up with Plan UK - an organisation working to achieve improvements for children living in poverty in developing countries. This summer they are running a global online photography competition for International Youth day on 12 August. The theme is ‘Governance’ and what it means to young people around the world. Find out more >>

Statistics

Almost half of young people aged between 11 and 15 have never had an alcoholic drink, six out of ten have never smoked, and drug taking has decreased, according to a national school survey. It found that drug use had fallen by two per cent, those who had drunk alcohol in the last week was down five per cent and the proportion of those who had never smoked increased by 14 per cent. More information>>

Poverty

Figures released by the government show that poverty in the UK has increased for the first time in almost a decade. Official figures showed relative poverty - those living on less than 60 per cent of average incomes - rose to 12.7 million in 2005-06, from 12.1 million the year before. More information>>

RUCKUS

RUCKUS Issue 6 is out now. The NYA's online magazine for young people, is available for FREE download now. RUCKUS is written both for and with young people, and contains a wealth of interesting and informative articles every quarter. Download RUCKUS>>

We would welcome your feedback on this bulletin so please contact Alex Stutz.