working with children and young people at risk of social exclusion in west cornwall

Trelya operates several projects in West Cornwall . Current projects include - Positive Futures Project, The Chances Project, Consultation and Participation work, Arts and Social Inclusion, The fLASH initiative, Out of It…, Family Learning Project, Heritage Project.

Positive Futures Project

The Home Office funds the Positive Futures Project. Trelya is one of 3 Positive Futures Projects in Cornwall and Devon. The project works with the most hard to reach 13–19 year olds at risk of offending. The project is currently in it's 6th year of the programme. The main aims of the project are to enable those not in education, training or work to develop the skills, attitude and motivation to re-engage in education, work or training; to enable young people to lead healthier lifestyles; to enable young people to commit less offending behaviour. The project is a multi agency project that includes Connexions, Cornwall Youth Offending Team and Cornwall Drug and Alcohol Team.

The Chances Project

This project engages with the most hard to reach 8–13 year olds at risk of social exclusion. This project has received funding from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, Children in Need, Community Fund. The project aims to engage with children before they have developed habits that leave them extremely vulnerable to unsafe and unhealthy lifestyles. The project works with children intensively over long periods of time — focusing on developing their self confidence, their self esteem, empathy and understanding of others, community and personal responsibility and aspiration building. The project uses a range of programmes and activities to enable children to learn how to spend their time positively and productively and are motivated to do so.

Consultation and Participation Work

Consultation and participation work is integral to the programme of activities offered by Trelya. Examples of this include the Pictures, Words, Actions Photography Project - children and young people used the medium of photography to enable their views on issues affecting their lives to be heard. They planned and organised a photographic exhibition and produced a postcard pack of their photos and comments that they distributed to decision and policy makers. One young woman was enabled to stand as candidate in the youth MP elections. She was supported by campaign group of children and young people. the whole process increased children and young people's awareness and understanding of national and local political processes and enabled them to understand how to be involved in these processes. Trelya facilitated the involvement of young people in the national consultation process for the Youth Matters paper. The National Children's Bureau visited Trelya to carry out consultation and research work.

Arts and Social Inclusion

Trelya is in the third year of an innovative arts and social inclusion project. The project uses a wide range of arts to engage with children and young people to address social inclusion issues. A wide range of arts are used so as to be responsive and flexible according to the needs and interests of young people. The arts have been used to enable children and young people to explore issues in their lives connected to social exclusion and to enable them to directly address issues that might lead to social exclusion — e.g. offending behaviour, limited social skills. The project has included film making , dance and movement, performing arts, music — composing and recording.

The fLASH initiative

West Cornwall Community Safety Partnership, using Neighbourhood Renewal Funding, commissioned Trelya through the Drug & Alcohol Action Team to deliver a West Cornwall-wide sensible drinking initiative. Trelya has developed to date, eight short films designed to get young people thinking about keeping themselves safe if they drink. The films are sent, with their consent, to young people’s mobiles at times when they are likely to be responsive to such messages. This campaign is backed up by “guerrilla” screenings of the films on walls about town on Friday and Saturday nights. Alcohol education training has been provided to 32 youth workers, to date, in West Cornwall to enable them to capitalise on the interest in the issue, and develop health education work with young people on their alcohol use.

Out of It…

Out of It… swas devised and created by over 20 young people over a period of several months. In their own words “we used plasticine model-making as a way to explore stories, feelings, ideas and thoughts relating to some of the issues we face with drug and alcohol misuse. Short animations were created from our stories that then became the focus of discussion, and resulted in us deciding to make this resource. Out of It… is a step by step guide to making an animation. It contains simple instructions, a DVD that we made and lots of ideas on how to create your own animations. We found making short animations a really useful way to help us get our stories heard.” The Out of It… project was funded by Mediabox.

Family Learning Project

Trelya’s new Family Learning Project, funded by the Big Lottery, builds on the longstanding relationships with families at risk of social exclusion, by delivering a learning initiative aimed at whole families rather than just the children and young people. Trelya works with families by supporting them to engage in positive and fun learning activities, helping them to develop skills, confidence and a sense of the value of learning together. Trelya supports families to overcome barriers to participation in mainstream learning opportunities, and also aims to support parents to have an increased role in their children’s education.

Heritage Project

Trelya’s Heritage Project celebrates the importance of place, belonging and identity in young people’s lives. A large group of young people have been involved in the Heritage Project, exploring what it means to live on Treneere Estate in Penzance. The group have taken photos, interviewed residents, filmed around the estate, visited librairies, produced artworks and even taken a scenic flight above the estate. They have produced a book, in scrapbook style, called A Slice of Treneere. The book displays and celebrates the rich heritage of the estate, the creativity of the children and young people involved in the project and the pride stimulated by this heritage initiative. The project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Youthwork 4 Health.