Sports stars, musicians
and media high-fliers to help young people reach their potential
through £3 million mentoring programme
DEPARTMENT FOR
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT News Release (059/2008) issued by The
Government News Network on 24 June 2008
Hundreds more
young people will have the opportunity to be mentored by elite
sports stars, musicians and top media players Culture Secretary
Andy Burnham confirmed today.
The youth mentoring programme will receive £3 million funding
over the next three years to help young people in challenging
circumstances realise their potential.
Run in conjunction with Youth Music, Media Trust, Sport England
and the Youth Sport Trust, the scheme offers one-to-one and group
mentoring for young people who most need it. Mentors play a
significant part in the young person's life, acting as a role
model who can offer professional advice, insight and encouragement
on a shared interest, with the ultimate aim of helping young
people on the path to success in life.
So far more than one hundred young people between the ages of 11
and 25 have taken part in the scheme, their mentors coming from a
huge variety of organisations including schools, Channel 4 and The
Times newspaper.
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said:
"Each and every young person should have the opportunity to
fulfil their potential. Sadly, too many youngsters go off the
rails for want of someone they can respect to steer them in the
right direction.
"The Youth Mentoring Programme helps young people find a new
passion to stimulate their interest and increase their
self-confidence. With just a little encouragement and advice
these people may well go on to be the broadcasters, sports stars
and musicians of the future."
Alistair Wilson, a mentor on the Respect Mentoring Program in
Hull first met Danny Searle, a drummer, in October 2007. Alistair
said: "When I first met Danny it was clear that he was a
talented musician who could develop a strong rapport with people
but he didn't have the drive to commit or succeed. Thanks to
the Respect Mentoring Programme Danny has a realistic chance of
being a community musician, making a living through music.
"This programme has allowed one-to-one time between me and
Danny. The focus of the programme has been to form a group and
then tour local youth clubs. We were told that some of the youth
centres were difficult places to work but Danny and the rest of
the group were not phased and he didn't have any bother
teaching the kids how to play drums."
Danny Searle said:
"Before I did this programme I was no-where. My parents had
chucked me out of my home and I could have started to thieve like
my mates. This programme helped. My parents saw that I was doing a
positive thing and gave me a second chance.
"The programme stops you from being shy in front of other
people and gives you a bit of 'get-up-and-go' so that
you go for an interview and you get a job! "I am going on a
music4U training course next year. They will teach me how to
mentor as well as being mentored. In the meantime we are applying
to the Prince's Trust for funding so we can continue our tour
of the youth clubs and use the performances to develop follow-on workshops."
Media case study (London based)
Last year Media Trust partnered Channel 4 in 'You're
Hired!', an after-school programme, to facilitate a six week
Apprentice-style media challenge.
Media Trust and Camden-based Ackland Burghley School set up an
after-school programme in which ten disadvantaged 15 year olds
conceived -and created- a marketing plan for a new youth
magazine/comic to be pitched to a media 'celebrity'
panel in the final week.
Four mentors from senior positions at Channel 4, including the
Head of New Media Operations, attended the sessions across the
six-week period to give the young people advice and guidance on
their ideas, character and story development and marketing
strategy as well as how to pitch and present their ideas to the panel.
After six weeks of hard work the ten young people had the
nerve-wracking chance to return to Channel 4 and pitch their
concepts to a panel led by Chief Executive of Channel 4, Andy
Duncan including MT Rainey, founder of advertising agency Rainey
Kelly Y&R and Horsesmouth and Neil Crombie, Film Director,
Seneca Films who gave them constructive feedback, identified
winners in several categories and selected an overall winner.
'You're Hired participant Matt Kavanagh-Talbot said:
"I felt like I learnt a lot. It just gives you so much more
confidence; I could do anything now after doing that."
You're Hired mentor, Carrie Bolsver, Head of Commercial
Interactive at Channel 4 said:
"It's really rewarding. I've done this kind of
stuff before and really enjoyed it. I just really wanted everyone
to do well and all of them without exception did. They were just
amazing, it all came together and was fabulous."
Sport case-study - Bradford based Fights and fighting crime is
the successful combination employed by RAMP Mentor and Thai boxing
champion Rachael MacKenzie to improve the life of one Bradford
based teenager.
The two might appear to be mutually exclusive, but the world
number one (for both 50kg and 52kg divisions) and holder of the
equivalent British titles said:
"I am really keen to encourage young people to get involved
in physical activity and he was keen to learn about the police."
Thomas Stokes referred by One in a Million spent his first 15
years growing up without a supportive adult role model. He came
from a broken home and deprived neighbourhood, environmental
factors that regularly served to hamper his school attendance and
hinder his learning curve.
Rachael aimed to instil dedicated professionalism in the
teenager. To channel his exuberance and desire to join the Police
Force, she structured a programme that taught him about
professional fighting and took him to watch professionals fight crime.
His aspiration to join the Police was identified during the
pair's first one-to-one mentoring session. Rachael then set
up two visits, enabling Thomas to meet police officers and observe
their work.
During a tour of his local Police station, a Police Education
Officer told Thomas how he could reach his goal. He later spent a
day shadowing a police officer's patrol of his very own
housing estate.
This gave him a deeper understanding of Police work. "The
experience has shown me that the Police Force is not all about
driving round in fast cars. It's been good," said
Thomas. "I hope to become a Police Community Support Officer
when I leave school."
Since Thomas began attending the RAMP sessions his school
attendance has improved dramatically. "Rachael and the Police
have been really helpful," he adds. "She is really
approachable and I now have a much clearer idea of how I can
become a Police Officer."
Rachael will soon meet his teachers to devise a plan for Thomas
to catch up with previously missed schoolwork. Thomas has been
offered the chance to visit the Police Operations Support Unit
and, if he continues to work hard and attend school, go to the
firing range.
Boxing lessons have also helped Thomas to learn respect, aid
physical strength - a necessity for joining the Police Force - and
improve his confidence and discipline.
She is ecstatic and modest about the effect of her efforts.
"There is no greater reward than someone telling me:
'This is the best thing I've done in my life'. When
I think of these changes it's unbelievable to think that I
have any part in it."
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. Each strand of the programme (media, music and sport) will
receive £1million over three years in order to run the mentoring scheme.
2. Projects are currently being run in London, Liverpool,
Bristol, Birmingham and Hull.
3. For more details about mentoring schemes please visit http://www.mediatrust.org
mentoring@youthmusic.org.uk or for sport katie@creatingexcellence.co.uk
4. The sports strand, the Respect Athlete Mentoring Programme is
jointly funded by Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust.
5. Youth Music is one of the National Lottery's great
success stories. Set up in 1999, with a remit to support
music-making activities for some of the UK's most
disadvantaged young people, Youth Music has gone on to reach 2.3
million children and young people, encouraging their talents,
building their confidence and transforming the landscape of
musical opportunity throughout the UK. The music-making supported
is of the widest variety, from hip-hop and dj-ing to classical and
jazz. Youth Music occupies a unique position - distributing £10m
per year of Lottery funding on behalf of Arts Council England.
Despite its success, Youth Music aspires to reach out to ever
increasing numbers of young people across the country. The vision
is to create a sustainable environment to channel young
peoples' creativity, enabling them to express themselves and
develop their skills through music. The aim is to reach 3 million
young people by 2010.
6. Media Trust works in partnership with the media industry to
build effective communications for the charity and voluntary
sectors. It does this through media training seminars and
workshops, film and TV production (Media Trust Productions),
broadcasting (Community Channel), news distribution (Community
Newswire), Media Matching and campaigns. Media Trust corporate
members are BBC, BSkyB, Channel 4, Daily Mail and General Trust,
Discovery Networks Europe, Disney Channel UK, Emap plc, Guardian
Media Group, IPC Media, ITV, MTV Networks UK & Ireland, News
International, Newsquest Media Group, OMD, Turner Broadcasting,
Warner Bros, WPP Group. Visit : http://www.mediatrust.org
7. Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust are responsible for
delivering the sport element of the project entitled the Respect
Athlete Mentoring Programme (RAMP). Sport England is responsible
for the community element, and the Youth Sport Trust is
responsible for the educational element.
The aim of RAMP is to deliver 150 'mentoring packages'
to positively influence disaffected and disadvantaged young
people. They will be delivered between August 2007 and March 2008
with each package lasting approximately six months. Each mentoring
package is tailor made based on the needs of the young person or
people (up to five per package), and has a maximum of six
'delivery days' by an allocated Athlete Mentor. Sixteen
specifically recruited elite athletes (of the past and present)
are appropriately trained, and supported to deliver a total of 900
'delivery days' in fourteen selected RESPECT Action
Areas. The vision is to position athletes trained and experienced
as mentors to influence a behavioural change in disaffected young
people through the power of sport. Byran Steel and Louise Davis,
retired elite athletes themselves, are coordinating the team of
Athlete Mentors providing advice and support.
Public enquiries 020 7211 6200
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