Young persons Decision Making Panel for the Youth Opportunities Bank
On 13th January a group of young people came together to train to become members of the decision making panel for the youth opportunities bank. The young people that attended were aged between 14 and 23, and came from a wide range of backgrounds with very different experiences.
Within the session, young people discussed the differences between the wants and needs of young people, including those from the youth offending team, young people in care, young carers, young people with physical/learning disabilities, those becoming at risk of becoming NEETS etc and their own needs. This gave them a greater understanding of the issues young people may face in their lives and gave them an insight into why young people and the groups they are involved in may apply for a grant through the youth opportunities bank.
Since the initial training the panel have met again, and will be meeting frequently to analyse and discuss each application in relation to the criteria set. Within each meeting the young people decide on a chair, minute taker and a young person to record the score given to an application, this ensures every young person has a chance to undertake each role. Judging by the quality of applications received the young people will have some tough decisions to make over where to allocate the money, but hope to have made their decision by the end of February
