News
New Report Highlights Value of Youth Work
05 November 2010
The National Youth Agency (NYA) and Local Government Association have launched a new report that highlights the value of youth work to society.
Using case-studies of local authority-funded projects, the Valuing Youth Work report shows how organisations and councils can effectively work together to provide services covering health, citizenship, participation, and training and education, and the impact it has on young people’s lives.
National Youth Agency chief executive Fiona Blacke said: “I am delighted to launch this report today, during Youth Work Week. We feel it highlights the diversity of councils’ work with young people and the impact across their lives.
“At NYA, we know that good youth work transforms lives, and puts young people in control of their present and their future. Councils’ role at the heart of communities means they are at the forefront in shaping their local offer to young people, and the case studies set out in this report are evidence of the impact.”
“Councils are facing difficult decisions about how these services will be provided in the months ahead, and the services featured in the Valuing Youth Work report may well be those most affected. NYA, through its relationship with the Local Government Association, will be working to support councils to explore new models of providing high quality youth work. Now more than ever we need to invest in our young people, to ensure they have every opportunity to achieve their full potential.”
Baroness Ritchie, Chair of the Local Government Association and Children Young People’s Board, added: “The case studies demonstrate willingness by councils to innovate and work with local partners that will stand them in good stead in re-thinking their local offer for young people. They provided evidence that engaging young people in decisions about them is vital to effective public service reform and emphasise important role youth work plays in early intervention with young people, who might otherwise require more intensive and costly public service interventions later in life.”
To download a copy visit www.nya.org.uk/policy or to order a copy email Holly Draper.
ENDS