OYC Meeting Minutes – 20/09/2023

YOUTHFORIA WORKSHOP OLDHAM (PENELOPE AND AALIYAH)

The next YouthForia on the 7th of October will be held in Oldham, and its theme is on Black History Month with the title of “Saluting Our Sisters”. Oldham are holding a workshop at this YouthForia, hence this section of the meeting focussed on generating the ideas and searching for resources. Ideas raised in this section included inviting politicians, such as an MP, information which can be given including pre-existing resources, alongside activities to do such as roleplay drama, matching games (matching statements to the person), or even Kahoot / Blooket.

EMPLOYMENT EVENT WEEK (CHRIS)

On the 26th of September, there is an employment event held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall by Amanda Youlden from Oldham Council, aimed towards 14 to 25 year olds. The event has already been advertised, and includes opportunities for attendees to walk around and talk to employers and even apply for a job. Get Oldham Working and colleges are also present and other market-style stalls will be in place giving information to people who don’t know what to do after they left school, those who left school and don’t know what they are doing, and those who want a careers change. There will also be a section which Oldham Youth Council are running, which is important especially since the 2nd local issue from Making Your Mark 2023 was about post-16 and employment opportunities. This section of the meeting involved coming up with ideas on what we should actually do, with ideas including CV writing workshops, resources and information we could give, mock interview & interview skills information and other interactive games and resources. The organisers will be informed about this, with some of these ideas being potentially combined and implemented for the event.

MOTION TO OLDHAM COUNCIL (CHRIS)

This section of the meeting focused on creating ideas for a motion we could write to Oldham Council in their November meeting, with information needing to be finalised by the 13th of October. The initial idea was to do something from either our top local issue or our top regional issue, which is affordable places for young people to go to, and cost of living respectively. An idea was made to perhaps link cost of living with asking the council to write to government to ask for free school meals for all young people, including secondary school pupils, as a link to the BYC / UKYP “Food for Learning” campaign. However, the exact topic and goal will be decided at the next priorities meeting (27th September).

DA EVENT (CHRIS)

A few years ago, a person called Kate came to the youth council asking if we would be part of her campaign on pornography in the 21st century, in particular trying to make it so that sites providing such content must request credit card information from its users. However, she came back and asked if we would be happy to be part of her event on the 29th of November called “Me, Myself and I”. This event is aimed towards young people to talk about domestic abuse in all relationships, and providing information on what to expect in a relationship and what is healthy, equalities and the effects of media on domestic violence, for instance the “incel” culture which has been trending due to certain influencers. Schools have been invited to bring a few of their young people to this event, whose goal it is to create resources to share. Kate asked if the youth council would like to be involved in the planning and running of this event, especially since there is an “awards” section planned where young people are judges. Youth councillors were on the whole happy to do this.

RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS (GLOBAL SHAPERS COMMUNITYS MANCHESTER HUB)Chris talked about volunteering opportunities he was made aware of for youth councillors above the age of 18. If you are interested in this, please email Chris.

• Tuesday the 26th of September 2023, 3pm to 7pm – Employment Event, Queen Elizabeth Hall (see above).
• Saturday the 7th of October 2023, 9:30am to 4pm – YouthForia, Oldham
• Monday the 9th of October 2023, 5pm to 8pm – Beeheard, Manchester

AOB (CHAIR)

Chris: The chair of the health watch approached him. The health watch is an independent advisor and scrutiny group on the NHS for Oldham. He wanted to set up a “YouthWatch”, where young people come to discuss the health services in Oldham and what improvements are required. He asked whether he and Mark Parker, a manager at the NHS trust, can come to the next Oldham Youth Council meeting and potentially ask for our help to set up YouthWatch. Youth councillors agreed to this.

Dayna: An interview panel to hire someone in the youth service on Wednesday the 27th of September all day. She asked if anyone is available and wants to help in the interview panel.

Chris: Asked what trips youth councillors wanted to do for the October half term.