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.
Healthy Respect bus visit!
It was really fabulous to work with our friends from Chalmers and have the Healthy Respect bus visit our patch recently. While the bus parked up at Sighthill Youth Agency staff were happy to team up with Healthy Respect to provide a great and much valued service for young people...
BBC Scotland Drivetime
It was a pleasure to welcome BBC Radio Scotland Drivetime presenter John Beattie to the Youth Agency last week. We had a wide and varied chat with John discussing the Youth Agency, our place within the community and the difference that youth work can make to the lives of young...
Summertime Fun
Happy summer everyone! Our drop-ins have been operating outside as much as possible. As well as keeping ourselves, the young people and their families as safe as we can it’s been great to enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and play some fantastic old school games. We’ve also been...
Pyramid Rings With Young People Again
It has been wonderful to welcome young people back to the Pyramid drop-in and, for staff, it’s been especially delightful to see them running around and hear the sounds of their excitement, chatter and laughter as they enjoy time with their friends. We’ve been spending our drop-in sessions outdoors getting...
Junior Drop-in Open for Business!
We are beyond delighted (and excited) to be opening our drop-in doors tonight for the first time since December. We’ve enjoyed the many messages, chats and Zooms we’ve had with young people over the last few months but nothing beats meeting our young people face to face and seeing them...
Company Shop Vouchers
Our heartfelt thanks to The Company Shop Group for their generous donation of £1000 in vouchers for their Edinburgh store. Located in Wester Hailes, their shop is just a hop, skip and a jump from our own building and we’re so grateful to them for reaching out to us and...
Pass the Torch – it’s Purple Friday
Today is Purple Friday! Which, of course, means a chance to celebrate the LGBT community, to be the best allies that we can be and just generally to make Scotland a great and inclusive place for everyone to grow up and live. For obvious reasons we can’t get together to...
In Conversation with…..
February is LGBT History Month and, to celebrate, LGBT Youth Scotland and LAYC have hosted a short series of In Conversation With events. Joining LGBT Youth Scotland over three conversations were Scottish Borders Rape Crisis Centre, Healthy Respect and, of course, young people. During these conversations a whole host of...
Merry Christmas from everyone at the Youth Agency
Merry Christmas from everyone at the Youth Agency. It has, of course, been a very strange and, at times, worrying year but we’ve ended it on a high with festive fun and Christmas parties. Sadly Santa wasn’t able to visit this year but our staff were happy to step in...
Partnership Funding in the SW
We are excited to announce we have secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Youth Work Education Recovery Fund. A partnership of youth work organisations, drawn from the South West Edinburgh Youth Providers network, have come together to provide a comprehensive programme of accessible youth work activities up to August 2021. ...
Our Thanks to Arnold Clark
We are very grateful to staff and customers of the Arnold Clark Motorstore in Sighthill, Edinburgh for their recent donation of £854.24. We are particularly grateful to the staff member who nominated the Youth Agency to receive this fantastic donation from their Change for Charity initiative. It means such a...
Streetwork Update
Don’t forget, Youth Agency staff are out and about on streetwork across the area. We’re available to work with any young person on the issues they are facing in their lives. Whether it’s just for a chat, you have something on your mind or feel like you would like some...
Impact of Youth Work – Report Available
The Impact of Community-based Universal Youthwork in Edinburgh is a new report that launched today. This report pulls together research that aims to understand that impact of youth work on young people in Edinburgh and to understand what made that impact possible. At the Youth Agency we’re proud and priveleged...
The Pyramid is Open!
After the long months of lockdown we were delighted to finally open the Pyramid drop-in and welcome young people back in to the building last week. It was, of course, fantastic to keep up with so many of our young people virtually during lockdown but nothing beats being able to...
Streetwork Update
Just a reminder for local young people that Youth Agency staff are still out and about on streetwork. We’re out several times a week covering the extended area from Broomhouse and Sighthill up to Clovenstone and from Longstone along to Calders and all areas in between! Our staff are happy...
Youth Snappers Are Live
Our young people and staff enjoyed a wonderful collaboration with WHALE Arts last year and earlier this year on a fabulous photography project. For obvious reasons the project had to be put on hold along with our plans to host an exhibition of their work. However, the work they produced...
Individual Support in School
We’re really delighted to be back in Forrester High School resuming individual support with young people. While we’ve been busy over the months of lockdown offering individual support and group work online it’s absolutely fantastic to be back in school and to meet young people face to face. Sadly, but...
Summer Fun
Someone may have forgotten to tell the weather that it’s summer but here at the Youth Agency we’ve not forgotten. Our summer activities, of course, look a bit different this year but we’ve had lots of fun. We’ve been meeting online with young people throughout the summer and delivering packs...
