Warwickshire News Mine

A group of young people from the county have been recognised for their ‘outstanding contribution’ to the Youth Opportunity Fund. The young people received their award at a special ceremony organised by the Government Office for the West Midlands to celebrate the success and achievement of young people and youth services across the region.

Fifteen young people from Warwickshire attended the Oscar-style event, which took place at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham and included a dinner; cabaret and entertainment provided by young people and a disco. The Warwickshire group joined their peers from across the West Midlands to celebrate the success and involvement of young people in the Youth Opportunity Fund; Youth Capital Fund; Youth Parliament; Millennium Volunteers and the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy.

Ten young people who serve on Warwickshire’s Youth Opportunity Fund Panel accepted the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award. The aim of the Youth Opportunity Fund is to involve young people, especially those who are hard to reach, in identifying positive activities and things to do. Nearly £500,000 has been awarded to youth projects in the county over the last year and a panel of fifty young people in Warwickshire are involved as decision makers, grant givers and project leaders for the fund.

The fund is a DfES initiative operated through Warwickshire County Council’s Children, Young People and Families Directorate.
Five young parents from Warwickshire - Michelle Johnson, 19; Claire Haimes, 18; Victoria Francis, 20; Jodie Turton, 19 and Joanna Chamberlain, 19 were also invited to the event in recognition of their efforts to produce of a series of successful resources designed to challenge negative perceptions of young parents, and support young people through pregnancy and parenthood in Warwickshire.

The ‘storyboard’ resources, developed by Warwickshire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership included case studies, posters and two booklets - one aimed at professionals, and the other for young parents and young mums-to-be.

Marion Davis, Strategic Director for Warwickshire County Council’s Children, Young People and Families Directorate said: “We are very proud of Warwickshire’s young people for the way in which they are making a real difference to young people’s lives.The Youth Opportunity Fund is helping to provide many worthwhile activities across the county and the parenting resource is now widely used by health professionals, young parents and young parents-to-be from across the region.”

Amy Barnes, Warwickshire Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator said: “I’m delighted that the resources we have developed and the young parents involved have received recognition for all of their hard work!”

Link to WCC