Youth work roundup: Funding, homelessness, and youth theatre

Youth services in Oswestry have received a funding boost from the town council. It has stepped in to provide an additional £5,500 to provide two weekly two-hour youth club sessions which will cost £20,000 over the year. The Border Counties Advertiser reports that this follows Shropshire County Council reducing its budget for youth services from £24,640 to £14,500 for the coming year.


A group of people have been sleeping under the stars, inside a sports hall, and in their own back gardens to raise awareness of youth homelessness. The Eastern Daily Press reports that around 65 students, staff, volunteers and business people joined in the annual YMCA Norfolk Sleep Easy event in a bid to raise £15,000 for the Christian youth charity.


The Scottish Youth Theatre has set out hopes to become a centrally funded national company in an attempt to save it from imminent closure. The Times reports that the proposal by Jacky Hardacre, the Glasgow-based theatre's chief executive, was put forward only five days after the theatre announced it had failed to secure, for the second time, a long-term funding deal from Creative Scotland, the national arts agency. Hardacre said she is exploring the concept of national status, which would allow the 40-year-old company to receive funding direct from the Scottish government.


Blackpool Youth Council held its annual youth summit at Blackpool and the Fylde College University Centre before a group of more than 50 people. The Blackpool Gazette reports that the audience got an insight into the top three issues for young people in Blackpool, as determined by the recent Make Your Mark ballot in late 2017.