Cheers Youth Centre

 

 

 

Ballymoney Youth Council

The Youth Council is a dynamic youth led organisation which is self managing, responsible for its own affairs and supported by a NEELB Youth Worker.

Aims

To address the issue of:

• Community Relations
• Juvenile Justice
• Employability
• Peer Development within the community.

The following are some of the Objectives of our Youth Council:

• To help young people find a solution to issues that are important to them.
• To have fun, meet new people & get involved in some exciting activities.
• To learn new skills.
• To provide opportunities to learn skills & further education.
• To represent the young people of Ballymoney at statutory, voluntary and community level.
• To improve communication between young people & older people.
• To campaign for young people’s rights.
• To inspire young people to contribute to their community.
• To educate local authorities on the ideas & attitudes of young people
• To encourage greater participation of young people in the Youth Service.

Opportunities:

International Citizen ship Project

The project takes place over three phases.

Phase One

• January - June 2010
• Group Meetings
• Residentials

Phase Two

• A two week work placement on Cape Cod, USA.
• Working alongside Camp Counsellors which will develop personal skills and put into practice leadership training skills which have been provided.
• Visit alternative Youth Justice Programmes to gain learning that can be brought back to local community, i.e. Boston Police Department, Quincy Police Department, Sandwich Police Department, Barnstable Prison, Barnstable Sheriff's Panch, Boot Camp and Penikese Island.
• Visit Harvard University Political Studies Department to view methods of dealing with community conflict.

Phase Three

Offer young people a ten week work placement in a summer camp in Cape Code, USA if successful in completeing Phases One and Two. Also bring back into local communities the learning that has taken place.

Stoke on Trent Study Visit
During this visit members will join up with young people from Stoke on Trent youth forum, and visit youth service projects & youth centres in the Stoke on Trent area. During this visit we spend a day at Alton Towers theme park.

Poland Study Trip
During this 4 day trip to Poland members get to visit Auschwitz concentration camp and the salt mines. We stay in the ancient city of Krakow with its many different activities and things to do.

Joint Youth Council Weekend
Each January we join up with Magherafelt & Coleraine for our annual youth council residential weekend. This year we went to Bushmills education centre.