On behalf of the Board of Directors I am pleased to report that 2013-14 was another very successful year both in terms of finances and programme at Granton Youth Centre. We, at GYC, continue to believe in working together and working in partnership with likeminded organisations and individuals; sharing ideas, resources and challenges for the betterment of the young people, community and all stakeholders involved in our organisation. By pooling resources we can better target individuals, groups and pieces of work to the most vulnerable and marginalised young people in our local area. With the aim of delivering positive, developmental learning outcomes for the young people most in need, building their capacity and resilience to overcome the challenges and difficulties that they face.

The Go Forth Project provides key services for young people who experience many barriers, looking to develop and support them into volunteering, learning or employment. The project provides drop-ins, one-to-one support, counselling and group work for young people, supporting them to access services, opportunities and to a support network in which they can trust and rely for help and advice. By reducing the barriers and inequalities that young people experience Go Forth allows young people to access the services they need, in order to move on with their lives in a manner that is determined by them.

Volunteers are a vital part of the GYC ethos, and their enthusiasm and dedication have proven invaluable and GYC has recently been recognised with continuing Investors in Volunteers status. We have a great group of adult volunteers who are supporting the delivery of our weekly, club-based youth work programmes. Our Youth Volunteers have been heavily involved in our Summer Programme again and are planning two projects based

around digital media and community fundraising, all of which are linked into their school’s record of achievements and through the Saltire Awards.

The Street-Work project and broader North Edinburgh Alcohol Initiative Collaborative (NEAIC) have faced challenging situations with the youth in the North of Edinburgh over the past months. The community has obvious concerns with anti-social behaviour involving theft, reckless driving and damage to motorbikes and other motor vehicles. Inroads, through partnership and collaborative working,v are being made and a number of key youths are being provided with alternatives and opportunities, but more work and support is required as there is no quick fix. Good, positive and change-focussed youth work, based on relationships of trust and respect that require to be built by all involved.

The groupwork and the traditional youth club nights are still a very important part of our activities as for many young people this is their first contact with ‘youth workers’. This service provides a much needed social and safe meeting place for young people where they can have a game of pool, mix and meet their peers and can access other services run by GYC or other agencies.

Finally, with some new additions to the team and some board members, staff and volunteers moving on in new directions and seeking further challenges, I would like to take this opportunity to continue to wish them well and thank them, warmly for all they gave to GYC. Many thanks also go to a very supportive Board of Directors, Kevin and the staff team, the volunteers and the young people of Granton Youth Centre for giving us the opportunity to celebrate what we do well, and well done to those volunteers and staff members for achieving their initi8, PDA, degrees and Saltire Awards.

Chair’s report ChairpersonLiz Hair

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In the 2013-14 Financial Year membership of the Board of Directors of GYC was at capacity, with 12 Directors making up the Board; skilled people from Social Work, Schools, Edinburgh Leisure and local community businesses and community members giving up their time for GYC.

Becoming the manager of GYC during its 10th anniversary year was a good thing to experience. Looking at previous programmes, activities and achievements; listening to people’s views and reflections of them; and gaining an understanding of what impact the work has had for Granton and North Edinburgh over the last 10 years was a good process to go through as a new member of the team.

This year there was a continued time of reflection, this time for the coming 10 years, focussing on the future of the organisation, the needs of the community, and most importantly the young people in the area that GYC delivers its 6 days-a-week programme with and for. This has resulted in plans being put in place for the research, development and implementation of a GYC Business Plan and Funding Strategy for 2015-18. Initial work has started on this plan and will be completed in time to be implemented in 2015, the process will involve board, staff, volunteers and youth members of GYC setting out a future vision and plan for the work.

The GYC has been extensively refurbished this year, which involved young people making decisions regarding colours and future use of areas and rooms. This was achieved through an apprenticeship scheme within Edinburgh College, supported by the Chair of the Board, Liz Hair, which saw young apprentices carrying out all the painting, wallpapering and refurbishment work as part of their on-going skills and learning development within the course. And what a great result it is too! Liz has also shown continued commitment and leadership, as chair of the board with regards the developing membership and structure. GYC’s board has five new members and a ‘working’ sub-group structure that supports building development; funding and finance; HR and policy; and liaison with staff.

The GYC staff team has also developed with the post of Office and Finance Manager within the organisation being taken up by Molly Moyle, which has enabled me to focus on other areas of the developing organisation and its work. Through the skills, motivation and personality that Molly brings to the organisation things are moving forward in a positive and structured way under her management and leadership. You will read within the report that there are other changes taking place within the programme teams, especially within the context of youth volunteering, where we welcome Kerry Shand to the GYC team also.

It goes without saying, the work that is being delivered through the Youth Work, Street-Work, Outreach, Employability and Volunteering programmes remain of an impressive high standard. So much so that our Streetwork Team Leader, Shona Cormack, was successfully nominated, and reached the final of, YouthLink Scotland’s National Youth Worker of The Year Award for 2014, within the sessional/part time category that dictated:

Finally, I hope that throughout this year’s GYC annual report you can see that the work that staff, volunteers and young people deliver is of a high standard that puts young people at the heart of all that is GYC!

Manager’s ReportManagerKevin Ross

Manager’s ReportManager Kevin Ross

‘’Recipients demonstrate commitment to the personal and social development of young people by creating imaginative learning opportunities for them to broaden their horizons.

They embrace the opportunities to expand their skills and knowledge, enabling them to grow and develop to the benefit of the young people they work with.’’

“Granton Youth Centre, in partnership with others, builds positive and trusting relationships with the young people they engage with through Street-Work programmes.”

Education Scotland. Anne Gibson – HM Inspector Inspection of the learning community Trinity Academy The City of Edinburgh Council. 11 February 2014

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Go Forth 2013-2014

Go Forth is Granton Youth Centre’s Employability project funded by European Social Funding and part of the Edinburgh Partnership Strategic Skills Pipeline. This is a network of agencies which work together to support unemployed people throughout the city, at whatever stage of employability, into training education or employment. Go Forth is funded to work with the ‘hardest to reach’ young people who are furthest away from training, education, volunteering or employment and identified as being at stage 1 or 2 of the pipeline, meaning they have no routine social connections and/or chaotic lifestyles.

Go Forth staff has had a few changes in personnel in the last year but is now up to capacity with Gil Gillies joining the team in December 2013. Go Forth staff work with young people in a variety of ways to support them and provide them with a tailored programme of work to meet their needs, at their particular stage. All young people registered with Go Forth receive an initial assessment and this determines how we will work with them in order to facilitate positive development. As young people make progress then we can signpost them to other agencies who can provide more additional or specific support.

Go Forth has established good networks with local Broughton and Craigroyston Community High Schools and delivered weekly sessions to MCMC pupils at Broughton and has delivered coaching sessions and accepted referrals from Craigroyston. The reason for the move into schools is to establish relationships with those pupils who are at risk of becoming NEET (not in education training or employment) before they leave school in order to provide them with more intensive support they may require. Go Forth accepted referrals from Link Living and Social Services to provide additional support and advocacy for vulnerable young adults.

Go Forth Statistics 2013-2014

• In 2013-2014 Go Forth has and provided key support to over 84 of 130 young people registered

• All of Go Forth clients have multiple barriers to employment

• In 2013-2014 Go Forth has supported 43 young people into employment

• In 2013-2014 Go Forth has supported 52 young people to access training, education or volunteering

• Go Forth continues its support so that young people can sustain their training, education or employment

• In 2013-2014 45 young people have achieved a qualification/part qualification

• In 2013-2014 Go Forth ran a weekly young women’s group, a parenting course and a weekly mixed, informal drop-in service

• In 2013-2014 Go Forth worked with 26 young people on average each week within the centre

• In 2013-2014 Go Forth has provided counselling to 26 young people

go forth

The Go Forth worked with 130 young people in the last year, resulting in 1,166 individuals sessions recorded

Go ForthGo Forth Employability Team Leader Mary Burnside

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Go Forth is an employability project with the ultimate aspiration being to enable or empower young people to secure employment, training or education, offering tailored support to best meet the needs of the individuals and groups offering a variety of group-work sessions covering numeracy, literacy and cooking. Go Forth also looks at developing core, soft-skills and runs a programme designed to improve/address health, confidence, social skills and emotional/behavioural issues; Counselling is also provided to work through personal and emotional problems.

Signposting young people onto appropriate volunteering opportunities or training are key to raising aspirations and developing independence. All of these interventions raise the aspirations of young people and develop the skills to enable them to participate more fully in their community. Partnership working with external agencies can help support specific areas of work eg schools, Housing Support, GIC City of Edinburgh Council, CLD, Job Centre Plus, Social Services, Link Living, Total Craigroyston, Police and Edinburgh Colleges.

Through a mixture of group work, individual support and/or counselling Go Forth aims to enable young people to take the next step and signpost them onto training, education or employment. By giving young people the confidence and belief to move forward and to continue to support clients who have moved on to try and prevent attrition. The main objectives and activities for the year continued to focus on raising the aspirations and self-esteem of young people and reducing social isolation.

When necessary clients are supported at meetings with Housing Department, lawyers, health professionals, social workers, police, councillors etc. Clients are assisted with phone calls, letter-writing; or letters can be written

on their behalf. Advocacy is an important support, especially for younger clients with low confidence. As clients get older Go Forth aims to reduce the level of advocacy required and supports young people into taking more control of their own affairs.

The overall service and programmes this year have been:

• Young Parents’s Group

• Young Women’s Group

• Young Men’s Group

• Open Employability Drop-in

• Counselling

• One-to-one support with particular issues around benefits, health, and housing

• One-to-one Employability Support; CVs, job search, application forms

• Coaching

• Volunteering

• Cooking Skills Group

Contact:

mary@grantonyouth.comgil@grantonyouth.comtracey@grantonyouth.com

go forth

October was Go Forth’s busiest month, 139 individuals made use of the service that month, the monthly average is 97.

Go ForthGo Forth Development Workers

Tracey Watts and Gil Gillies

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Youth Volunteers

Youth work and summer programme:

Eight young people were involved in the planning and delivery of GYC’s 2013 Summer Programme. Our team went away in early June to help plan and implement all proposed clubs and activities over the summer. At the end of the residential we successfully planned our five week programme and created roles for all of our youth volunteers. After the summer programme the young people produced a summer evaluation video and newsletter to show how successful and vibrant our summer was. Thanks to Liam, Kayleigh, Emma-Louise, Jack, Connor, Beatrice, Emily and Claire for all your hard work!

Art Project

Claire from our youth volunteers and Daniel from our adults volunteers worked alongside young people in the youth clubs to make a start on our first phase of GYC’s youth mural as part of our GYC make over. Thank you for all your hard work and charming artwork, we lookforward to seeing more in 2014!

Youth led Events

Christmas Disco

Youth volunteers Holly, Amanda, Mel and Megan organised, fundraised and ran our S1-S3 Christmas disco. This was a fantastic event ran by young people for young people. The disco was well attended by over 40 young people and was a perfect end to our festive programme. All four volunteers gained accreditation from Saltire Awards, furthermore their volunteering experience supported a pass in their business and events management qualification at Broughton High School for successfully organising an event. Well done girls!

The Big Obstacle

Youth volunteers Kieran, Hannah, Jodie and Ben formed the idea for the Big Obstacle. The event will host a community fun run with obstacles, ending with fun day full of activities. This will take place in 2014/early 2015. Participants will also have the chance to raise money for a cause of their choice. The group has created a project plan, a logo and have finalised a pitch for funding. Good luck to the team on their pitch to Starbucks in Glasgow and if all goes well we look forward to a fantastic community event in 2014!

Thank you to all our youth volunteers over the past year, you have all been fantastic and we look forward to new exciting opportunities in 2014.

2013-2014: GYC would like welcome Kerry Shand to her new post of youth volunteers’ manager. kerry@grantonyouth.com

volunteering

June to March 2014: GYC has worked with 16 youth volunteers, accumulating 409 hours of volunteering

Youth VolunteeringKerry Shand

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April to March 2014: GYC Adult volunteers accumulated 894 hours of volunteering working throughout our youth work programmes.

volunteeringAdult Volunteering

Paul Carnie

Our team of Volunteers

GYC has successfully recruited and supported four new adult volunteers, which make up a team of nine volunteers who activity participate in the delivery of our youth work programmes. All the new volunteers have taken part in the GYC Aspire Volunteer Skills Training Programme which aims to equip them with a basic level knowledge of youth work and working with young people. Accreditation

Three of our adult volunteers have gained an SCQF Level 5 youth work qualification and GYC is looking to develop further links into accredited training through Initi8 and PDA training in partnership with the Council and LAYC. Two part-time staff within GYC, Sammy Young and Shelley Cummings, completed their PDA in Youth Work course this year; Mary Burnside and Shona Cormack also graduated with degrees in Youth Work and Community Education respectively. We congratulate them for attaining their achievements and look forward to their future valued contributions to GYC.

Our accreditation through Investing in Volunteers is under review and GYC is looking to update, develop and support new ways of supporting and engaging with volunteers. We received the Investing in Volunteers status in August 2014. Volunteers are supported and managed by the Volunteer Manager in line with Investing Volunteers framework, of which GYC has accreditation to provide training and support to in-house volunteers.

A massive thank you

GYC Would like to thank all our volunteers who gave their time, energy, enthusiasm, knowledge and skills to create a fun, educational, supportive and safe environment for the young people of North Edinburgh. We genuinely could not have run our programmes and supported young people in the way we do without your ongoing support and dedication.

GYC would like to thank Jane McColl for all her work with the Volunteering programme over the years and we wish her luck in her new job.

GYC Aspire volunteer programme

The GYC Aspire Volunteering Programme provides opportunities for both young and adult volunteers to take part in personal development opportunities within GYC’s youth work programmes. The programme offers support and accreditation through volunteering and is supported and funded by The Big Funds’ Young Start Fund

Paul Carnie is now our Adult Volunteers Manger. So please contact him for more information regarding adult volunteering. paul@grantonyouth.com

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GRANTON YOUTH CENTRE VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME GYC

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Youth Work Programme

March 2013 - April 2014

Tuesday: MCMC @ BHS, S1-S3: 1:30-3:30pm. Tuesday: Youth Club @ GYC, S2-S5: 6:30-8pm. Wednesday: Revision club S4+ @ GYC: 5-7pm. Thursday: Youth Club @ GYC, S1-S2: 6:30-8pm. Friday: Youth Club @ GYC, S1-S5: 6-9pm. Friday: Football @ Spartans, 16+: 8-9pm. Saturday: Hibs Home Games: 1-5pm

2013-14 has been a epic year! Together with the help of our staff, adult and youth volunteers, partner organisations and new supporters/funders we offered an extensive youth work programme. Feedback from our staff and young people concluded that our efforts proved hugely successful and more importantly was meaningful to the young people that we engaged with.

What we achieved…

Youth Clubs: Our main priority for youth work is to provide a space that is safe, enjoyable educational and supportive for young people, our youth clubs have provided just that. This year we have increased our contact time for young people by providing age appropriate youth clubs five nights of the week. These clubs have been well received and have been very busy throughout the year.

Partnership with Schools

MCMC @ BHS: GYC and Fet-Lor came together to develop a pilot project that supported pupils from Broughton High School. The aim was to work with a small group of pupils who were disengaging from school, to encourage them to focus and develop personal goals that would lead to a change in behaviour or motivation to positively re-engage. Highlights included outdoor education sessions, group work, life skills activities and one-to-one goal setting.

This was a successful group and GYC, Fet-Lor and Broughton High school are looking into developing this project further for 2014-2015.

Revision Club: GYC and staff from Broughon High School secured funding from Ponton House Trust to continue our mission to make studying cool! By continuing the revision club to support S4+ pupils with revision over the prelim and exam period. We created a chilled study space environment, with access to all that is needed to encourage study.

This was supported with excellent volunteers, and teaching staff who could offer one-to-one support or group work study. This proved to be a much needed resource to young people with 19 young people using the service. Feedback indicated that the project was successful and young people and teaching staff have specified that there is clear signs of enriched attitudes towards study and an improvement in grades. Well done to all the young people with their exam results!

The Youth Work programme delivered 340 sessions throughout the year, reaching 150 young people, with additional school holiday activity

programmes being provided.

go forthyouthworkYouthwork team leaderPaul Carnie

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Summer and Holiday Programme

GYC summer programme 2013 was a massive success! With thanks to CashBack for Communities and Forth Neighbourhood Partnership we provided a five week enhanced summer programme packed full of fun activities for young people and events for the whole community. Visit our website to see our summer newsletter and access our summer evaluation video created by our youth volunteers.

Our thanks

Partner organisations: A massive thanks to our partners, Fet-lor Youth Centre, Hibernian Kicks for Kids and their Business Partners, MYDG, Spartans FC, Broughton High school and RWCC for working together or supporting us during all our projects and programmes.Supporters and Funders: Thank you to all our supporters and funders, Edinburgh Council, CashBack for Communities, Forth Neighbourhood Partnership, Ponton House Trust and Network Rail for supporting our youth work programmes.

Programme from April 2014 to Dec 2014 Tuesday: MCMC @ BHS, S1-S3: 1:30-3:30pm. Tuesday: Youth Club @ GYC, S1: 6-8pm. Wednesday: Revision club S4+ @ GYC: 5-7pm. Thursday: Youth Club @ GYC, S2-S4: 6:30-8pm. Friday: Youth Club @ GYC, S2-S6: 6-8pm. Friday: Football @ RWCC, S2-S6: 8-9pm. Saturday: Hibs Home Games: 1-5pm

The average monthly attendance was 123, March 2014 attracted the most with 185 sessions attended by young people.

go forthyouthworkYouthwork team leader

Paul Carnie

Transition work

P7 Summer Transition: GYC and RWCC worked together pre-summer and during summer to support young people moving from P7 into S1. The plan was to introduce and encourage young people to take part in a new youth work setting at GYC, so it was important that we gave participants opportunities to meet and build relationships with GYC staff and have fun doing taster sessions like centre visits or outdoor activities. The project went well and thanks to this joint piece of work, young people were soon confident about moving onto a new youth work provision at GYC.

School Transition Support

GYC and Fet-lor supported P7 transition by delivering youth work in two transition events at Broughon High school. The first being the Positive Start Transitions Event that engaged over 30 young people and the other being the Active Schools Transition Event that involved over 200 young people. The aim was to expand on the P7 three day visit by giving pupils a chance to take part in various sessions and activities to help build confidence and be reassured, whilst building vital relationships to support a positive transition to high school.

Our staff supported both events by offering activities that included team-building games and a bike obstacle course. Both staff and young people had a great time at both events. Positive outcomes include, young people building relationships with youth work staff, young people becoming more confident when moving on to high school and young people gaining awareness leading to participation in new youth work settings.

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North Edinburgh Street-work

The North Edinburgh Street-work team deliver targeted youth work and interventions with young people aged 12-18 years, involved in risky behaviour associated with alcohol consumption. Staff visit the parks, streets and cycle paths around North Edinburgh, at times when young people are known to be hanging around during evenings and weekends within the areas of Muirhouse, Pilton, Granton and Trinity.

The aim of the service is to engage with and form trusting relationships with young people, supporting them to make informed decisions. Staff initiate discussion regarding their access and use of alcohol, their presence on the streets as well as enabling them to identify, understand and limit the dangers of some aspects of their alcohol use and risk-taking behaviour.

This is achieved through engaging the young people, individually and in groups, in activities, research and awareness raising with regards alcohol and the broader issues of substances, sexual health, relationships and personal safety whilst on the streets.

The Street-work team has had three years of success in developing and delivering a Street-work service that remains relevant and innovative. Its delivery is set within the broader North Edinburgh Alcohol Initiative Collaborative (NEAIC), made up of four organisations (GYC, PYCP, MYDG and The Junction), core funded this

year through EADP, Lloyds TSB and Robertson Trust. This collaborative achieves significantly more as a collective, working with and for young people in North Edinburgh, than the individual organisations could hope to achieve separately.

An example of this has involved young people this year in ‘asset mapping’ their communities, which highlighted areas they make use of; youth work and support organisations they attend; community resources and buildings they will access; and also areas they avoid and the reasons why.

Alcohol. The Street and Young People

This year saw the publishing of ‘Alcohol. The Street and Young People’ toolkit, which is directed at youth work practitioners and their organisations, supporting and informing them of the good practice of the streetwork and broader NEAIC programme, whilst offering a supportive programme of training and development as part of the funding agreement with the Edinburgh Alcohol and Drug Partnership. This training and development toolkit and programme will be rolled out throughout the whole of Edinburgh City Council area, supporting the sharing, development and implementation of street-based youth work and alcohol interventions, which GYC’s streetwork team are at the heart of developing.

Streetwork delivered up to 8 sessions weekly in four key areas of North Edinburgh, making over 2,500 separate young people contacts

go forthStreet-workStreet-work Team LeaderShona Cormack

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With an average of 208 separate contacts monthly from 32 sessions, June was the busiest month with 300 contacts being made.

GYC Pilot Project

This year saw GYC develop a ‘pilot project’ around outreach working, attempting to achieve the following outcomes:

• Promote and raise awareness of youth work services and other provision throughout Edinburgh North

• Get alongside young people in their space and understand future youth work service needs, access and interests

• Where required, reduce the barriers to young people’s access and use of youth work services and provision within Edinburgh North

• Draw partner organisations and agencies into working with GYC to promote broader service provision for young people in Edinburgh North

• Understand the pilot project’s impact and measure future needs

Outreach work is done outside of Granton Youth Centre, primarily on the streets of North Edinburgh, as well as in other local youth centres, schools and leisure facilities; designed to help raise awareness and ensure that young people know what youth provision is available to them in the area, and then supporting their access and removal of perceived barriers to their participation.

Outreach work is a form of street youth work, designed to ‘outreach’ to young people and support their transition into relevant youth work, leisure or interest provision, wherever they deem that to be, and in whatever theme or style that interests them.

The Outreach work is now carried out by two members of Granton Youth Centre staff, and at times, during the pilot project, it was supported by another youth worker, Rachel Bliss from MYDG. We distribute leaflets and have discussions about programmes from various youth facilities in the area as well as our own. The Outreach Work built upon work carried out within lunchtimes at Broughton High School and our Friday Footie programme that took place in Spartans Academy and Royston Wardieburn Community Centre. We primarily promote the youth clubs, employability, fitness and football programmes within GYC, alongside informing young people of other organisations and their available programmes.

With positive initial results from the pilot project, funding applications have been developed and sent to potential support trusts and organisations and we await the outcomes of these. It is hoped that the Outreach Service will continue and young people can be further supported to join in with youth work, sports, leisure and interest programs throughout Edinburgh North.

OUTREACH workOutreach Worker

Sammy Young

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Income

City of Edinburgh Council Revenue Grant £116,700Trust Fund and Other Funding £167,686

Total Income £284,386

Expenditure

Direct/Activity CostsStaff Costs £186,462Project Costs £ 55,485 *Travel, Training and Grants £ 12,961

Support CostsPremises and Building Costs £ 33,099Administration and Organisation £ 5,334Professional and Finance Costs £ 4,552

Total Expenditure £297,893

*Project costs include GYC’s funding distribution as part of the NEAIC and Streetwork programme.

A full set of authorised accounts are available on request.

Finances

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR Total

Youth Work 150 108 111 119 66 133 140 112 111 137 113 185 1,485Street Work 162 247 300 194 116 296 211 225 193 203 231 150 2,528Lunch BHS 580 1,049 1,291 1,138 1,600 1,290 1,490 793 1,101 865 1,374 12,571Go Forth 96 64 71 88 111 104 139 91 84 94 109 115 1,166Vols 25 24 50 68 23 53 38 44 29 16 11 15 416Total 1,013 1,492 1,823 469 1,454 2,186 1,818 1,962 1,210 1,551 1.329 1,839 18,166

GYC is committed to match fund the City of Edinburgh’s Revenue Grant through Children and Families. Total income for 2013-14 was £284,386 of which £116,700 was the revenue grant.

     

Supported by:

3-11 West Granton Road, Edinburgh, EH5 1HGTel: 0131 467 5854

Registered charity number: SC031622 Company number: SC340606

www.grantonyouth.com