What is the Leeds Youth Offer
The 'Youth Offer' is the term we use to describe the diverse range of youth work opportunities and activities available to children and young people. In Leeds, youth work is delivered as a preventative and early intervention service for young people. As such, it plays an integral part in delivering the outcomes of the Leeds
Children and Young People's Plan and is a key component of achieving our ambition of being a
Child Friendly City.
Youth work helps all young people to successfully navigate the journey from adolescence into young adulthood, giving them access to new opportunities and experiences and providing information and guidance that will support their personal and social development. It raises their aspirations, builds resilience and enables them to make informed decisions that are right for them.
The Youth Offer in Leeds includes: the Youth Service (Localities), Youth Service (Projects) and Youth Service (Activity Centres). An Enhanced strand of the Youth Offer is commissioned by Leeds City Council to the
Leeds Youth Alliance and several other third sector partners.
In order to provide the best service we can, we make sure children and young people have a meaningful
voice and influence regarding the activities and services available to them. To reduce the demand for more specialist interventions, the Youth Offer have close working relationships with colleagues in a range of other services including: the Children's Social Work Service,
Youth Justice Service and
Early Help Services.
Youth Service (Localities) Team
Youth work supports the personal and social development of young people and builds the capabilities they need for learning, work and the transition to adulthood. This is achieved through the voluntary engagement of young people with skilled qualified youth workers.
Programmes of youth work support young people to connect with their communities, enabling them to belong and contribute to society, including through volunteering, and support them to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives. Programmes are planned and delivered to ensure the needs of young people from all communities are met. Youth workers deliver a range of issue-based work to support young people and communities through a range of topics such as emotional wellbeing, sexual health, education, anti-social behavior, risk taking behaviors and positive decision making.
The Youth Service (Localities) Team provides core youth work along with other youth work providers in the third sector. Youth work provision in Leeds is aimed at young people aged 11-17 years (25 years for those with complex needs and disabilities) who would most benefit from these opportunities.
These young people predominantly live in the most deprived neighbourhoods across the city. Emphasis is given to group work programmes to address the needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, with the aim of reducing demand for specialist or statutory services.
Youth Service (Activity centres)
The Youth Service Activity Centres are responsible for the traded Youth Offer across three centres;
Herd Farm, West Leeds Activity Centre and
South Leeds Youth Hub . The projects combine exciting outdoor education experiences and a connection with nature, with a youth work approach that fosters personal and social development for children and young people.
The Activity Centres provides support and capacity building to schools to enable them to extend their educational offer. Additional to their traded offer, they also deliver low cost or no cost activity for vulnerable groups, working closely with social care colleagues.
Youth Service (Projects)
Youth Service Projects consists of the Pathways Support Team, Life Coaching Service and Return Interview Service with city centre youth work team.
The Pathways Support Team
Support young people aged 16 to 18yrs who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) into learning and apprenticeships. They provide drop-in support from a range of Community Hubs across the city.
Life Coaching Service
This team provides one to one support for young people aged 13-18yrs who are experiencing poor mental health. The team hope to support the most vulnerable young people with poor mental health, such as those at risk of entering care or those at risk of becoming NEET.
Return Interview service
Whenever a young person is reported to the Police as 'Missing', local authorities have a statutory responsibility to offer those young people a Return Interview, which in Leeds is provided by the Return Interview Service.
The city centre youth work team
Deliver street based youth work on Friday and Saturday evenings between 5:30 and 10:30pm. The team work with a range of city centre partners to help keep young people safe. The team also deliver the 'Out 2 18' and 'Transtastic' youth groups, which provide weekly support for young people aged 13-18 who identify as LGBT+ (lesbian, gay,bi or
trans).
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