This meeting will have a focus on young people and opportunities
Calling all young residents to take a stepping stone to success by coming along to the meeting which will be a celebration of your gifts and talents as well as presenting the opportunity for young people to come together to learn about council services, apprenticeships and jobs that are available to them.
· A brief introduction from cabinet member for children’s services, Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle about her role and to discuss highlights and her vision.
Time: 7.20 pm
· The Southwark apprenticeship scheme. Time: 7.40pm
· A short film from the Peckham and Nunhead Youth Community Council. Time: 7.50 pm until 8.05 pm
· Presentation of awards to the Peckham and Nunhead Youth Community Council members (YCC) in recognition of their work. Time 8.05 pm – 8.15 pm
Minutes:
During this segment of the meeting, Inspector Lloyd introduced himself to the meeting.
Inspector Lloyd explained that he had taken over the role as Inspector from Pauline Upton and was now responsible for the South East cluster which covered the Lane, Livesey, Nunhead, Peckham and Peckham Rye wards. Inspector Lloyd spoke about his role in the police force and referred to changes to the local policing team and confirmed that two ward officers usually patrolled the local housing estates in the local area.
He explained that further proposals and changes would be made to neighbourhood policing which he agreed to report back to a future meeting. The officer agreed to be available at the break to respond to queries.
The chair thanked Inspector Lloyd for attending and advised that an item on local policing would on the Peckham and Nunhead agenda for the next municipal year in 2014 – 2015.
Young people and opportunities
Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle, cabinet member for children’s services provided an overview of her role and outlined the council were focussing on young people and their personal development which involved looking at ways to promote a healthy life style and improve their work prospects.
She explained the council would invest more in local community centres and improve the work and services at health centres and youth clubs. There would more development involvement on the needs of young people with further attention being given to those with special needs.
The council has worked alongside local youth clubs and young people to enhance their social development. Councillor Dixon-Fyle said other initiatives like the youth bus would travel through the borough to where young people were based to help them find work and provide them with training opportunities. She said funding was available to assist young people in their business ventures. The recent community conversations referred young people to the youth fund.
Councillor Dixon-Fyle said she would be available during the break and sign posted young people to information that was available at the meeting.
The Southwark apprenticeship scheme
Lorna Fraser, Vocational Skills and Apprenticeship Manager gave an overview of the scheme and invited two apprentices to speak about their experiences.
Southwark had supported the scheme for the last eight years and offered young people wider opportunities, career goals, so they could fulfil their potential. The scheme covers a wide area of specialist roles like electricians and plumbers, all of which had information available at the meeting. The apprenticeship scheme supported over 300 apprentices and 200 of the apprentices had completed their qualifications and worked closely with the council’s contractors. Also 93% of those that completed the scheme gained employment and were able to achieve their goals.
The council recently held an award ceremony for those in the apprenticeship scheme which was attended by Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle, the Leader and the Chief Executive.
Presentation from the apprentices
The first apprentice talked about his experience after he joined the scheme and that he worked in the customer services team for a year which was front line desk work dealing with housing repairs at the Cotton centre.
He said he had learnt different skills whilst working at the centre. After he graduated from Birmingham University he was unemployed for several months. He tried unsuccessfully to get a job but was unsuccessful.
He was told about the apprenticeship scheme when he worked at the Cotton centre. He joined the scheme and applied for a position in the council’s organisational development team and was successful and is the same position he holds now meetings. The apprentice said he was appreciative of the support he had received from the council.
The second apprentice, Grace highlighted she won apprentice of the year in 2013 and currently worked in the home ownership team dealing with freehold and leaseholder enquiries which she felt was quite challenging. After she left school at the age of 16, Grace went straight into employment. At the age of 21 decided to further her education. She said the scheme helped her career and to develop her skills and confidence.
Both speakers thanked the council for giving them the opportunity to take part in the scheme.
The chair thanked those involved in the apprenticeship scheme and encouraged people to tell anyone that might be interested in the scheme.
Connecting Voices (COVO)
Peter who was from a local charity group called COVO was at the meeting to talk about the work they do with young people. COVO provides tailored programmes for struggling parents and families to support their children’s social, emotional and academic development. The meeting were shown two short films the group made about bullying and gangs.
Peter thanked the council for funding the project.
Sharon, youth worker for Peckham and Nunhead mentioned that the film was also based on funding the group received in 2012. The young people involved in this process were also in attendance. It was noted that the COVO project were one of five projects chosen for funding.
Certificate of awards
In recognition of the work the Peckham and Nunhead youth community council had done over the past year they were each given a “certificate of appreciation” for their work by the chair and a group photo was taken with the chair and Councillor Dixon-Fyle.
The chair thanked all of the information stalls that were at the meeting: Peckham Platform, Citizens UK, Peckham Job Centre Plus, Peckham and Nunhead free film festival, Insight southwark, All about the Band, World of Hope, Millwall Community Trust, Southwark street league, life skills and so forth.
Marian Farrugia, community council development officer thanked community bikes and coach Sterling for coaching basketball, Southwark young advisors and Daisy for helping out with the publicity for the Peckham and Nunhead flyer.