Minutes:
The Chairperson advised the Committee that Mr. J. Donnelly and Mr. M. Copeland, Active Communities Network (ACN), were in attendance and they were welcomed to the meeting.
Mr. Donnelly provided the Committee with an overview of their work and described how the Network worked across the City, specifically within disadvantaged communities.
Mr. Copeland advised the Members that the Network’s focus was to engage young people at risk and provide tailored support around their needs using their delivery methodology. He outlined that it worked with a broad range of community and youth delivery partners within local communities across Belfast, such as Hammer in the Shankill area, Alternatives in the Woodvale area, Charter NI in the inner east and the Ormeau Boxing Club in the inner south of the City.
In response to a Member’s question regarding east Belfast, he advised the Committee that they worked in Tullycarnet and Dundonald, as well as the Newtownards Road and the Short Strand. He advised that he would provide information on any work which had taken place in the Cregagh area.
He also advised the Members that ACN had built up strategic relationships with companies such as British Telecom (BT) and Asda, where they worked in partnership to provide high quality placement and employment opportunities for local young people.
Mr. Donnelly provided the Committee with an overview of the Council-funded Employability and Skills project, which was targeted at enhancing the employability of young people, aged 16-21, who were not in Education, Employment or training (NEET). He advised the Members that they had supported 112 young people to deliver 6 Social Action projects within their communities, including volunteering and supporting charities, and that 56 young people had achieved 75 accredited qualifications linked to their preferred progression route.
He outlined that 32 young people had been supported into employment and an additional 11 young people had been supported into further education as a result of the project and he highlighted that capacity building for those young people was crucial.
The Committee was advised that ACN had secured £100,000 sponsorship from Lucozade which would enable them to continue their work, and that they had also recently been advised that their application for funding through the European Social Fund had been successful. He advised the Committee that he hoped to secure the necessary match funding in the near future to deliver the project across Belfast.
The Director of Development advised the Members that, as part of its Workshop on 21st February, the Committee would consider the outcomes from the pilot projects to determine the Council’s youth employability and skills pathway.
Mr. Donnelly advised the Members of the Committee that they were invited to attend the Network’s Employability Celebration Evening on 20th February, at 6 p.m. in the City Hall, where they could hear more about the success stories from the young participants themselves.
In relation to the evaluation of the pilot project, Mr Donnelly advised that the University of Liverpool and Ulster University had been commissioned to analyse the outcomes and that early indications from the Ulster University had shown that they agreed with ACN’s approach.
A Member congratulated the representatives from ACN on having secured private sector funding and requested that a report be submitted to a future meeting to provide the Committee with information on the wider, holistic support which ACN had provided through its pilot programme, in terms of providing support from the initial contact with a young person, through to attaining qualifications or employment, re-entering education or progressing within an organisation, particularly in the context of the City Deal.
The Committee agreed to this course of action.
The Committee thanked the representatives for their presentation and they retired from the meeting.