December 2020 blog from Chair of Youth Task Force
Hello everyone, I hope you are all keeping well as we continue to work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Since my last written post we have made so much progress it will be difficult to fit it into one post…
Second set of Task Force meetings
Week commencing November 9 saw us host the second round of Task Force meetings when members focused on exploring and developing a set of recommendations to improve the current offer for young people.
I was joined by members of the Youth Advisory Group (YAG) who co-chaired each of the four meetings. YAG members played a key role in creating recommendations for us to share with the Mayor as part of the work around the Young Person’s Guarantee, ensuring they really respond to and meet the needs and priorities outlined by young people in June.
We were pleased to welcome the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, attending the ‘Reducing Economic Inequalities’ Task Force meeting to hear directly from members about their current commitments they are shaping.
Meeting with Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham
On Thursday, November 26, we shared our findings so far, and recommendations created with the Task Force, with Andy and other key leaders in Greater Manchester, including representatives from Transport for Greater Manchester, The Prince’s Trust and GMCVO. The meeting was attended by more than 80 people from different organisations and groups.
YAG member, Zara, spoke passionately about the development of the Youth Advisory Group, and the opportunity the group has had to influence change and hold the project team to account throughout.
We also shared a fantastic short video showcasing our GMYPG journey so far and the recommendations created by the Task Force. The video will soon be available so keep a look out on GMCA’s website and social channels and also in our future updates on the Guarantee.
The Mayor said our update to him exceeded his expectations and that he is excited about what our recommendations mean for practical improvements for young people across the city-region.
The recommendations we provided include: digital inclusion for all young people, having visible leaders that they can relate to and work with, being able to shape the services that they use and supporting employers to tap into the breadth of skills and talent of the young people in Greater Manchester.
GMACS is getting a revamp
We have recently had a sneak peek of the refreshed Greater Manchester Apprenticeship and Careers Service site and it’s looking great. This will become the central hub for all young people in our city-region, and as well as its usual information about apprenticeships and careers, it will also include all things to do with the Young Person’s Guarantee, ensuring young people have everything they want and need in one place.
The Greater Manchester Youth Combined Authority also provided feedback on the new website at their November meeting and provided feedback to the GMCA Work and Skills team on how we can communicate these opportunities wider to the young people of Greater Manchester.
In the near future we will be developing and delivering a campaign to ensure that the right people know about the site and what information is available on it, so watch this space…
Commitments
We have achieved a lot in a short space of time we have generated 40 significant commitments from multiple organisations that will generate over 1,000 individual offers, as well as schemes and offers of guidance, advice, specially crafted webinars, travel schemes, links with local employers, food vouchers and work shadowing that are open to literally thousands more.
We are still drumming up commitments to support the Young Person’s Guarantee – so if you are part of an organisation or business in Greater Manchester and feel you can get involved and help young people across the city-region we want to hear from you today.
We are soon working on developing a campaign to help organisations and businesses to help us further raise awareness of how they can support the Guarantee and help make a difference to young people in Greater Manchester.
Recent commitments are from ENGIE, One Million mentors and The Lowry – who are now all helping young people while supporting the Guarantee.
Head over to the ‘commitments’ page on GMCA’s website for further information and instructions of what you need to do.
What next?
We are currently creating a report that will go to the Leaders of Greater Manchester outlining our recommendations and proposed next steps for the Guarantee.
Newsletter and video update
Following the launch of the YPG newsletter in September we are now up to edition six – if you missed this or earlier editions you can catch up by heading to the ‘newsletters’ section of GMCA’s website.
You can sign up now (external website) to receive the newsletter if you are aged 13 or over.
If you missed my latest video update you can watch now on YouTube (external website).
Thank you for reading my post - please get in touch if you have any questions or comments: taskforce@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.
Diane Modahl, Chair of Greater Manchester’s Youth Task Force