‘Drugs: Guidance for young people’s services’ is a series of information, training and dissemination sessions provided by The National Youth Agency in a partnership with DrugScope and Alcohol Concern based on the publication ‘Drugs: Guidance for the youth service’. This series of five regional events, supported by Government Offices in each region, aims to give youth service providers, DAATs, Connexions Services and their partners the opportunity to come together to learn about the new DfES/DCFS/DH guidance and its use in the context of current Government initiatives, particularly Targeted Youth Support.

Full details and a booking form can be found on the link here

• In Cold Blood video

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DCVYS newsletter highlighted the following

GOVERNMENT OFFICE FOR THE SOUTH WEST – as part of the re-structuring of the GOSW the Safer and Stronger Communities Directorate has been established. This new Directorate pulls together GOSW’s work on crime, drugs and antisocial behaviour with that on neighbourhood renewal, community cohesion, equalities and the third sector.

NEW DEPARTMENTAL ARRANGEMENTS – with the advent of Gordon Brown’s leadership there are changes to the departmental set up, with the DfES being split in two. The Department for Children, Schools and Families will be responsible for children’s services, families, schools, 14-19 education, and the Respect Taskforce and The Rt Hon Ed Balls MP is the Secretary of State for this department. Further education will come within the remit of the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills with The Rt Hon John Denham MP as Secretary of State.

IMPLEMENTING YOUTH MATTERS: Continuing the dialogue with young people – The DfES has launched a drive to gather young people’s views on its youth policies. The initiative follows on from the consultation on the Youth Matters green paper, which attracted about 19,000 responses from young people. The department wants to ensure that it continues to receive feedback from young people as it implements the proposals in the green paper and so has recently held a consultation with young people (closing 2nd July), seeking their views on a range of subjects, including whether they feel that services have improved in the past year, and whether they are aware of youth initiatives such as the Youth Opportunity Fund and creative fund Mediabox – see www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/conDetails.cfm?consultationId=1483. As part of the drive Parmjit Dhanda, the undersecretary of state for children, young people and families, has recently undertaken a seven-stop tour of England, visiting youth groups and meeting young people and reported his findings at The National Youth Agency’s Youth Summit on 25th June. He planned to talk to as many young people as time allowed – including those from the poorest and most challenging backgrounds and was joined on some of his visits by other Government ministers who were keen to learn more about youth issues, including Culture Minister for the Third Sector, Ed Miliband. For further information see www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2007_0100

Worth Unlimted has a new website, that is a must see for anyone working to engage socially excluded young people.
www.worthunlimited.co.uk

With the much reported increase in gang related violence and deaths amongst young people in Britain today, our inner cities are the last place one would expect anyone to go looking for God. But ‘urban pilgrims’ Dave Wiles and Tim Evans are on a mission to discover the truth about youth and spirituality in some of Britain’s most troubled communities.

Avoiding more traditional holy sites, their 285 mile ‘pilgrimage’ will see them meet with young people from the Hartcliff area of Bristol, Kitts Green in Birmingham and Newham in the East End of London, as they attempt to find an answer to the question ‘Where is God?’. It’s a bit of a change from the day job – when they’re not wearing friar’s smocks, Dave and Tim head up national youth work charities Frontier Youth Trust and Worth Unlimited respectively.

Inspired by Franciscan friars, who will be providing hospitality to the travelers along the route, the pair plan to travel light, carrying no cash, wearing simple clothing and a ‘Tau’ – symbol of service to others.

Dave explains: “Pilgrimage doesn’t have to be about going somewhere remote to encounter God. The work of both our organisations is about meeting with young people who are ‘on the edge’ of our society. We wanted to make our pilgrimage to the places where thousands of young people live out their daily lives – and to explore whether God can be found there.�

The pilgrims will be holding an open session on the question ‘Where Is God?’ at Hartcliff Community Centre in Bristol on June 17th, and all young people are welcome to attend. The session will be informal, with opportunities to take part in creative arts activities, games and discussion – or just have a chat. They will also be visiting schools in Kitts Green and Newham to talk with the pupils there.

And for those who aren’t on the route, there’s a novel way to join in – a text or phone messaging service for God will be available for the duration of the pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage Dates: 17th – 19th June 2007

Open Session: Hartcliff Community Centre, Bristol, Sunday 17th June 4 pm

Text God: (Available 17th – 19th June only) 07799 108339

Phone God: (Available 17th – 19th June only) 01225 480973

More Info: Jo Fitzsimmons 0121 687 3505 or email frontier@fyt.org.uk

How to Steal a Million video

A Christmas Carol the movie Beneath Still Waters ipod

This great clip (hattip to Patrick) was used today to talk about learning and not fully transfering the learning that had taken place. It one of those funny clips that has loads of applications. Strangly it is part of a viral advertising campaign but who cares it is great. Feel free to list applications to yoth work or church in the comments, the more random the better.

The Frisco Kid dvdrip