Cumbria’s Vision for

Integrated Youth Support Services

To provide every young person in Cumbria access to high quality effective leisure-time, activities and support services to enabling and empowering them to meet their full potential during their transition to adulthood.

Cumbria CYSS service aims to ensure that:

• All young people will have access to a diverse and attractive local offer of purposeful, engaging and exciting positive activities and places to go. This will be responsive to their needs and support their personal development, including providing routes into more dedicated support and guidance for those who need it

• Disadvantage will no longer be a barrier to accessing local pportunities. Activities will be popular with young people from a wide range of different backgrounds, faiths and ethnicities, actively bringing them together.

• Parents will be fully informed about the available opportunities and have confidence in their ability to support teenagers’ personal development.

• Communities will play their part in providing opportunities and support for young people, building stronger and more trusting relationships across generations.

Principles of the vision:

• To ensure young people are actively involved

• To provide high quality and accessible facilities

• To respect and safeguard young people

• To promote and provide positive and challenging activities

• To provide independent and impartial Information Advice and Guidance

• To value diversity and actively promote equality of opportunity

• To improve outcomes for young people

• To give young people and communities real influence

• To attract and engage with every young person

• To have effective services delivered by a skilled workforce

Cumbria’s Mission for Integrated Youth Support Services

Through integrated working CYSS will achieve the mission of the Children’s Trust and:

• Create opportunities for young people, their families and those working with them, to be actively involved in developing and participating in services

• Find new ways of working and sharing available resources to meet the needs of young people and their families

• Provide a high quality experience that inspires every young person to achieve their full potential in life, in work and as a member of their community

• Invest in a highly skilled and integrated workforce to deliver the expectations of young people and their families

• Commission services to secure improved outcomes, through evidence based practice, for all young people and their families. (Source: Children and Young People’s Plan 2007-2010)

The Integrated Youth Support Service contributes to creating a society where all young people develop and progress, fulfilling their potential and making a positive contribution to their communities. To achieve this we need to advance consistently with the ‘Youth Matters’ strategy based on the five ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes, building on existing good practice. This requires a step change in how we support young people, and help them to develop during their teenage years and into young adulthood, through comprehensive youth offer.

Adolescence is an exciting time of life, with new opportunities and significant change. During the transition to adulthood, Cumbria CYSS will ensure that every young person will be entitled to, and be able to shape:

• Personal, social and educational development opportunities;

• Impartial information, advice, guidance and counselling

• Positive leisure-time activities and facilities With, where necessary, targeted support so young people achieve and progress.

For a full copy of the Visioning Document:

Click HERE

Youth Work Provider Forum

Meeting Dates for 2008

Provider Forums in all Areas will take place:

Week beginning 26 May 2008

Week beginning 1 September 2008

Week beginning 1 December 2008

For further details on times and venues please contact your local Youth Work Development Co-ordinator.

Youth Opportunity Fund and the

Youth Capital Fund

For guidelines for both funds click HERE

The Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) gives young people aged 13-19 the power to decide how money is spent on their behalf so that they can start their own projects to improve the activities available to them in their local area and help other young people in their community. What kind of project the young people come up with is up to them.

Click to download an Application form

The Youth Capital Fund (YCF) works in a similar way to the YOF but, instead of being to pay the salaries of staff and equipment for clubs and other activities, this money will be to create or enhance facilities such as buildings or outdoor spaces. As with the YOF, young people will get the opportunity to be involved in the decision making process so that they can have their say on what the funds should be spent on.

Click on this link to download the YCF application form.