We are thrilled and delighted that the Youth Agency has been awarded the LGBT Gold Charter by LGBT Youth Scotland.
The LGBT Gold Charter recognises commitment to LGBT rights and equality along with excellence in best practice. The Youth Agency are honoured to be the first youth work organisation in Edinburgh to receive this award.
In 2018 we became the first youth work organisation in South West Edinburgh to achieve the Bronze Charter. Achieving this award was a big event for us and a recognition of our commitment to fully embracing LBGT rights and promoting equality. However, we thought we could do more and go further and that is what we set out to do.
Our journey to gold began in 2022 and the 18 months we have spent working towards this award has been both enlightening and challenging. While it has been heartening to see what we do well receive recognition, we have also been pushed to be better.
Among the highlights have been working with our partner agencies to complete the Trans Top Tips document, delivering multi-agency training with LGBT Youth Scotland, Healthy Respect and LAYC to promote LGBT-inclusive practice, and participating in the fantastic Youth Pride Zone as part of the Edinburgh Pride Festival.
Feeback from LGBT Youth Scotland said “Your organisation has worked really hard over the Charter Journey to integrate inclusivity into your service, benefitting LGBTQ+ service users and staff. This is a collective effort and every person who has completed training, attended events, and participated in the journey should be proud of their positive contribution.”
We hope our services reflect the journey that we have been on, the lessons that we have learned and the relationships we have built. Ultimately, it is our wish that our staff, volunteers and all the young people using Youth Agency services feel safe, valued and free to be themselves.
Youth Agency Award
S6 pupil Zuzanna Zawislak was the very worthy winner of the Youth Achievement Award for Personal Achievement in conjunction with Forrester High School this year. Zuzanna has been working with the Youth Agency since S3 as part of a girls group which looked at behaviour, friendship and choices. At all...
Groupwork Roundup
As the end of the school year approaches so too does our school-based groupwork programmes It’s been a busy year for groupwork but always fun and enjoyable! We’ve had the pleasure of running an Enhanced Support Base nurture group which has now completed its second year. This group has...
Focus On Individual Support
As May draws to a close, we are offering a short insight into our Individual Support service. This service for young people is very much needed and has been growing significantly year or year for some time. It offers a safe space and time out for young people that...
Kind2Mind Update
Thank you to everyone who donated to the Youth Agency during Big Give’s Kind2Mind campaign. This generosity has had an incredible impact on our Individual Support service and will help us to make a significant difference to many young people facing issues affecting their mental wellbeing. We were able to...
Double Donations With Kind²mind
We’re very excited that we have been selected to participate in the Big Give Kind²mind campaign. We will be raising money for our Individual Support for young people aged 12-25. Donations to this project will be matched for 7 days from 15th – 22nd May 2023 – Mental Health Awareness...
Awards for All Funding
We are so grateful to Awards for All for the their recent donation of £10,000! This gratefully-received funding will help to support our drop-in services so that we can continue to provide much needed support and a safe space for young people to hang out and have fun...
Edinburgh Youth and Children’s Work Strategy
The new Edinburgh Youth and Children’s Work Strategy has been launched. Covering the years 2023-28, it was launched last week at an event at the City Chambers in Edinburgh. The Strategy highlights the role of the sector in supporting children and young people in Edinburgh, as well as acknowelging the...
Easter Activities and Chocolate!
The Easter holidays have been busy at the Youth Agency. As we’ve welcomed lighter nights and the (sometimes) nicer weather we’ve had lots of opportunities to try some new activities during the holiday period. As it’s Easter, we’ve also indulged in more than a little chocolate! Our junior...
Budding Young Artists
Thank you to the National Galleries of Scotland for taking the time to come and visit the Pyramid last week. They visited our junior group and created an amazing session for the young people which they all absolutely loved. Young people told us how they particularly enjoyed getting ideas from...
With Thanks to Scottish Children’s Lottery
Huge thanks to the Scottish Children’s Lottery for their additional grant to help our young people with the cost of living crisis. The cost of living crisis is having a huge impact on the families that we work with. Young people have told us how their heating has been cut...
Jam-packed January
We wanted to make sure to get the new year off to a fantastic start at the Youth Agency and have had a super-busy and super-fun month. We’ve been doing plenty of cooking (and plenty of eating) and made some hearty meals including big pots of soup and toasties. ...
Magical Christmas Time
A Very Merry Christmas to everyone! We have had the most wonderful December at the Pyramid. It’s true we love Christmas here but the thing we love most is seeing the young people have a fabulous time, sharing the Christmas spirit and getting super excited. We’ve decorated Christmas biscuits...
Big Thanks to Children’s Lottery
We were delighted to welcome staff from the Scottish Children’s Lottery to the Youth Agency last month and we were equally delighted for their donation of £7,500 towards our work . We’re hugely grateful as this donation will allow us to continue providing our Junior Drop-in provision for young people...
Schools – S6 and Health Drop In
The Youth Agency have just completed an 8 week long sexual health block with S6 pupils from Forrester High School. After the Covid induced break of the last two years it was fantastic for our staff to be back in the classroom covering these sessions. These sessions focused on what...
LGBT+ Best Practice Event
It was our pleasure to be invited to join the latest Healthy Respect Best Practice Event. The latest event took place this week and was focused on including LGBT+ young people in youth work services. The Youth Agency was asked to contribute to the event and share our role in...
More Summer Fun
The school holidays are officially over and our young people are heading back to school. We’ve all had an amazing summer, and both our staff and young people have had so much fun. Our bouncy castle week was a highlight for both young people and the young at heart. Who...
Super Summery Summer
We’re having a wonderful summer at the Youth Agency helped by fabulous young people coming along to our summer sessions and helping us have loads of fun. We’ve done so many fantastic activities and had an amazing time so far. At the start of the summer we welcomed our...
Busy Pride Month
We’ve had a busy month here at the Youth Agency (just how we like it!) As well as wrapping our work in schools with fun and parties we’ve been busy celebrating the fun, celebration and diversity of Pride. We were at Edinburgh Pride on Saturday and had an...