Hamilton Youth Information Project (HIPY)

HIPY received funding from To The Max to carry out research with Young People and Practitioners on Youth Literacies. A series of consultations were held with a diverse range of young people, all with identified literacies issues. A detailed questionnaire was also sent to Practitioners.

Following our research An in-depth report was produced that listed a number of recommendations for future service developments. A steering group was then established with a range of partners to carry these recommendations forward. As part of their remit, an awareness raising conference was held in November 2005 for local Practitioners in the Hamilton area. An Information Resource documenting all available Youth Literacies services in the Hamilton area was also produced and distributed. Simultaneously, a pilot was held with young people, looking at an integrated literacies project. *For copies of the report please contact HIPY.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THE END OF TO THE MAX?

The steering group have now merged with the South Lanarkshire Council Youth Literacies group to form an area wide Forum called APYL (Active Partnerships in Youth Literacies), which HIPY continue to co-ordinate and chair. This looks at developing Youth Literacies at service delivery and strategic level, as well as providing support, information and advice to local workers. It operates via sub-groups which are task-orientated and concentrate on the following areas; action plan/information sharing/promotion, funding, research/resources, guidance/tracking and progression.

Work carried out so far includes;

• Organising and delivering a Youth Literacies Resource Training day to Youth Workers across South Lanarkshire.
• Delivering a programme of awareness raising to statutory sector Youth Workers.
• 1 Youth Workers from each geographical area of South Lanarkshire has been trained in PDA ITALL.
• All resources appropriate for Youth Literaices have been identified, collated and are available for partners to use.

HIPY also continue to deliver integrated Youth Literacies programmes, primarily to a group of Young Parents, who have carried out several programmes, including a craft programme, a baby memory book, committee skills and most recently a comic book, which will be published and launched at International Women’s day in March 2007.

In addition, HIPY have delivered workshops at the National Youth Literacies Conference in November 2005, at the To The Max launch and at International Literacies Day in September 2006.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR HIPY?

HIPY will continue to develop APYL and steer Youth Literacies forward in South Lanarkshire. We will be rolling out the awareness raising programme to the Voluntary Sector and will offer a type of “mentoring” service for Youth Workers who are interested in getting involved in Youth Literacies. In addition HIPY will deliver more integrated Youth Literacies programmes with hard to reach/engage young people.

Youth Literacies is now very much a part of HIPYs everyday work.

CONTACT DETAILS

For further information, please contact: Gillian Laird, Youth Information Development Worker, 16 Townhead Street, Hamilton, ML3 7BE or by telephone on 01698 891687 or e-mail hipy@btopenworld.com or apylgroup@yahoo.co.uk