12.04.10 Watford YMCA Reaches for Excellence
Watford YMCA’s Youth Development department has recently achieved Reach, which is a national quality standard recognising excellence in delivering youth volunteering and youth led action.
While the majority of the evidence put forward for Reach was from vinvolved, evidence from both the Prince’s Trust and YFutures was also submitted as both of these projects also enable young people to take the lead in designing and delivering their own community projects.
“Achieving Reach has been a really creative process,” says Julia Collar, Head of Youth Development, “And we have had to challenge ourselves to refine our projects and processes to ensure they are delivering exactly what young people want and need. Gaining recognition for our innovative programmes and approach to youth action is something we are very proud of.”
Outcomes from the work have included new training programmes for young volunteers including workshops to help young people explore volunteering and what the benefits are to them and to the community, workshops to boost young volunteers’ confidence, and workshops for organisations wanting to involve young volunteers for the first time.
Julia continues: “Our most exciting new piece of work is the YAT Pack, which is an innovative and unique training programme to help young people acquire the skills to set up and run their own community projects.” The YAT Pack covers everything from project management through to bidding for funds, and is currently being used with a variety of groups across the county including Hertfordshire’s Youth Parliament, Baldock’s Youth Council, Young Pride in Herts, and a wide range of schools and colleges. The YAT Pack has also been included in the Herts County Council’s Directory of Applied Learning.
All courses are available free to young people aged 16 – 25 and are delivered at a variety of venues around the county.
For more information visit www.vinvolvedherts.com
