Opportunities for Young People

It’s really important to us that we offer progression routes for our young people. This can be in the form of peer leading, taking part in our youth committee, or doing a youth work trainee placement.

As part of our “Learn2Lead” programme we provide opportunities for young people to build employability and life skills, through supported placements in our open access children's and youth work programmes. Young people have an individually tailored plan, with our Volunteer Development worker supporting them along the way. This year, young volunteers helped with local projects such as the community garden. Other areas that we developed were young people led consultation and evaluation in our open access programme. Four young volunteers also completed accreditation this year.

A group of young people have also formed a Youth Committee and they meet every week to plan various projects that help raise funds for PYCP, or help get views from other children and young people about services and activities they would like to get involved in.

As a part of the North Edinburgh Youth Work Academy (NEYWA), working with youth work partners, we provide youth work trainee placements. These 10 week placements offer young people from the community the chance to learn all aspects of youth work and also undergo training. One of our projects that trainees get involved in is “Teen Boutique", a pop up shop that has been running for the past five years in PYCP. It is an opportunity for local young people and their families to buy upcycled/ preloved clothing at affordable prices and also learn more about the environment, waste and landfill challenges.

We also have close links with a range of colleges and universities and host student placements on a regular basis.

For more information contact: Lesley Ross