English | Cymraeg Tel: 029 2076 5760 Connect: Twitter

Newport City Homes sponsorship feature

What a difference a year makes… Newport City Homes progresses its work with young people

Residents Festival

If you were a fly on the wall at Newport City Homes’ recent Residents Festival, you could not help but observe that the audience was somewhat different from the 2009 event. After reviewing the success of the 2009 event, a working group of residents and staff agreed a different format was required to encourage the attendance of young people and families to promote their involvement in the work NCH carries out in their communities.

The Residents Festival included:

  • the NCH ‘City Streetz’ Youth Forum members encouraging residents to be brave and put their hand into pots of mystery substances to find a star and win a prize. The forum’s aim was to raise money for future projects for young people
  • the Youth Construction Trust and recent participants of the Real Apprentice project were on site making wooden window boxes to give to residents to take home. The apprentices demonstrated the skills they had learned throughout their time on the project
  • the NCH ‘Future Jobs’ Team and County in the Community representatives organised a football skills workshop for young people throughout the day where they could win a whole range of football goodies
  • and last but by no means least, a hall full of young people eagerly anticipated the arrival and performance of ‘Flow Dem’, the newest talent discovered by NCH partner organisation, Urban Circle, a local not for profit youth partner organisation. The band have recently participated in the Sky One programme, ‘Must be the Music’ performing with Dizzy Rascal and featuring some of NCH’s own City Streetz members as backing dancers!

Bringing these young people together for this special event was the culmination of NCH’s work with young people over the past year. In order to bridge the gap and introduce young people to the work NCH carries out in their communities, a programme of projects for young people was developed. NCH worked with its partner organisations in delivering projects that would appeal to young people and achieving key outcomes such as:

  • the development of an NCH youth forum to review and feedback on NCH policy and procedures as well as regeneration work taking place in the communities in which members live
  • maximising opportunities for young people to gain access to employment in the city
  • staff and young people working together to ensure NCH is communicating effectively with all of its residents in communities and creating a culture of understanding
  • a preventative approach to neighbourhood issues such as anti-social behaviour, debt management, and apathy

Youth forum

February 2010 saw the development of an NCH youth forum through a week-long project entitled ‘City Streetz’. The project engaged 49 young people aged 11-16 for the period of a week during the half term holidays and they participated in workshops on subjects such as DJ-ing, breakdancing, MC-ing, Street Dance and broadcasting. As a result, 26 young people are now attending a monthly City Streetz Youth Forum meeting. The forum plays a key role in planning activities for their peers, and engages in discussions about individual’s perspectives and experiences of the communities in which they live.

The forum has also been involved in suggesting slogans for NCH’s forthcoming fly tipping campaign which is targeted at the communities in which members live. The forum has contributed a youth perspective to NCH’s new Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy and has also spent time with sheltered scheme residents, discussing and understanding the perception of young people in hoodies. The forum used the feedback gained in a workshop with assistance from the University of Wales entitled ‘Goodies in Hoodies’, designing and making hooded tops that gave a positive image to the clothing and the person wearing it.

Training and job creation

NCH strives to ensure that local investment has a positive impact on young people in its communities through training and job creation opportunities. Projects such as ‘School of Hard Knocks’, ‘County in the Community’ and the ‘Real Apprentice’ have been instrumental in creating the links between disadvantaged young people and local employment opportunities.

25 young people attended the ‘School of Hard Knocks Programme’ all of whom were signposted to employment and training opportunities. One participant entered the assessment process for the NCH apprenticeship programme and was successful.

The recent ‘County in the Community’ football project worked with 25 young people, 24 of whom were young offenders; one member has since been employed by NCH as part of the Future Jobs Fund initiative.

The ‘Real Apprentice’ project, carried out in partnership with the Construction Youth Trust, gave 7 young people the opportunity win an apprenticeship with NCH by bringing an empty property back into use. Individuals gained hands-on experience of the trades required to complete the work, whilst learning other skills such as team work. Craig Simpson, aged 22 from Bettws, was recently announced the winning candidate and will be starting his first year apprenticeship in Autumn 2010. NCH were so impressed with the work and dedication of the candidates that two further apprenticeships have since been offered and all participants on the Real Apprentice programme gained employment or future training opportunities.

Reaping the rewards

NCH are taking a flexible approach to understanding young people and the issues affecting them. By working directly with young people who are caught in a trap of worklessness and anti-social behaviour, engaging them in activities and supporting them in turning their life around, NCH is already seeing positive affects on the young people themselves, their neighbourhoods and the wider community.

In its first year, NCH has been short listed for the National Housing Awards for its work with young people. To celebrate this achievement, NCH will have a presence at the awards ceremony and have invited forum members to attend alongside staff and Board Members to mark the occasion.

Chris England, Board Chair of Newport City Homes, said: ‘We are delighted that the hard work of our staff and partners has been recognised. More importantly, the young people we work with have gained enormously, giving them a launch pad for a brighter future’.


Sign up to our email newsletter

Every two months we'll email you a summary of the latest news & articles on the WHQ website. Better still, if you're a fully paid up magazine subscriber, you'll get access to the latest members-only articles as well.

Sign up for the email newsletter »

Looking to advertise in our magazine?

Advertising and sponsored features are a great way to raise your profile with our readership of housing and regeneration decision makers in Wales.

Find out more »