Organisations from around Newcastle – including The Chronicle and The Journal – have come together for a project which aims to make the city a better place for young people.
The Evry project has been launched following a year in which almost 2,000 young people were asked about their experiences of growing up in Newcastle. They have told of the need for more positive things to do in their communities, how they want better opportunities for training and work and access to facilities for sport and other activities.
Now a wide range of organisations are hoping to meet those aspirations. A launch event at Newcastle’s Live Theatre highlighted pledges made to provide hundreds of work experience and volunteering opportunities, an aim to equip every primary school in the city with a breakfast club, a £500,000 annual Youth Fund which will be run by young people and significant investment in children and family services.
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One of the pledges will also see The Journal, The Chronicle and our website chroniclelive.co.uk working with young people to offer them the opportunity to write about lives in special ‘Teen Takeover’ editions.
The event was launched by Newcastle City Council leader Nick Kemp who said: “This is a hugely important commitment we’re making. It’s one of the biggest challenges and opportunities to address and our unity demonstrates the commitment this city has to young people.
“This is our responsibility and we need to make it truly serious. We’ve seen recently-published, depressing statistics on child poverty which exist in the city, that we have higher than average numbers of children in care and how young people cannot always access the activities they need.
“To put it bluntly – they want more and I support them in this.”
As part of the project, Newcastle City Council, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospital Trust and Newcastle University will create 500 entry-level employment opportunities for 18-21-year-olds over the next two years. There will also be a pilot start later this year to offer free bus and Metro travel for 18-21-year-olds who are school leavers, young carers or have English as a second language.
Other projects in the scheme include 400 work experience opportunities in cultural and hospitality venues, a £1.7m holiday activity fund and an annual youth climate change summit to set targets for the city in the climate agenda. Organisations represented at yesterday’s launch included Newcastle University, Tyne and Wear Museums, NE1 and the North East England Chamber of Commerce.
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