Youth zone charity to deliver NCS
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
The charity behind the emergence of state-of-the-art youth zones has been announced as a new delivery partner for the government's National Citizen Service (NCS) scheme.
As part of efforts by the NCS Trust to get more hard-to-reach young people involved with the programme, a total of 18 organisations, including youth charity OnSide, have been selected to deliver 2,200 places through "pathfinder programmes".
Since 2008, OnSide has established seven youth zones - in Blackburn, Bolton, Carlisle, Manchester, Oldham, Wigan and Wolverhampton - while eight others - in Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Chorley, Croydon, Preston, Sunderland, Warrington and Wirral - are in various stages of development.
The youth charity has said it has ambitious plans to create 100 youth zones "within the next generation".
The NCS Trust, which delivers the scheme on behalf of government, already works with more than 300 local delivery partners, but in July announced plans to link up with grassroots organisations to attract young people who are more difficult to engage.
The other organisations delivering the pathfinder programmes will be: Groundwork; Ambition; Essex Boys and Girls Club; UK Youth; Elevation Networks; The Kenelm Trust; Bradford YMCA; Curious Minds; Wakefield Council's youth service; Young Brent; Sea Cadets; Creative Youth; Belle Vue; Cleveland Fire Brigade; Citizens UK; St Werburghs City Farm; and Aquarius.
Michael Lynas, chief executive of NCS Trust, said: "NCS Trust believes in working in partnership with a wide range of organisations to deliver NCS.
"We know how hard our current partners work to ensure delivery and a broad social mix. As NCS grows, we want to build on this success, growing our network of partners to help us deliver high-quality programmes and expanding our reach into all communities. Lynas said that the lessons learned from the pathfinders will help shape delivery of NCS as it grows.
"We look forward to continuing to innovate and learn with more initiatives like this in the months and years ahead as NCS continues to reach deeper into communities," he added.
The government has set a target of getting 300,000 young people to take part in NCS each year by 2020.
Cabinet Office data published last year showed 57,609 young people participated in 2014, well below the 90,000 target set by the Prime Minister.
The pathfinder pilot programmes will be run alongside the main NCS programme this autumn with the aim of "deepening the reach of NCS into all communities and testing innovative approaches to support NCS as it grows".
The NCS Trust said it expects between 50 and 500 young people to take part in each pathfinder programme, with young people taking part being recruited "from outside of mainstream schools and colleges".