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.
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...
Personal Achievement Award
The Youth Agency was so pleased to participate in the first ever Forrester High Shool virtual award ceremony last week and we were even more delighted to present the Youth Agency Award for Personal Achievement to S6 pupil Jason Howie. We do, of course, celebrate all of the young people...
A Little Round-Up!
As we all know it’s been a challenging, strange and confusing time recently. Like everyone, we here at the Youth Agency have been busy adjusting and adapting but we want to reassure everyone that we are very much here, doing what we do and helping to support the young people...
Comfort Packs Available
The Youth Agency has comfort packs available to any local young people and families who need them. The packs contain essential hygiene products such as shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and sanitary products. We will begin distributing these packs from the Youth Agency office on Dumbryden Drive on Wednesday 15 April...
Close Shave for Staff
Two of our staff members, Val and Francine, are sporting new super short new hairstyles this week. After being sponsored last week to shave their heads Val and Francine have, to date, raised £2,390 for the Youth Agency. Thank you so much to everyone who donated; your support is massively...
Thank you Asda!
A huge thank you to staff at the Asda Straiton store for their support this week. At the Youth Agency we are committed to supporting young people and their families through this difficult time. When it became apparent that some families were struggling to get a variety of hygiene products...
Virtual Drop-In
We’re adding to our virtual drop-ins. Our senior drop-in will go ahead as usual. Please see below for details of our junior and intermediate drop-ins. As ever, please contact us if you need more information – Facebook and Twitter details are on the poster or email info@youthagency.co.uk...
Work During the Coronavirus Outbreak
Like most of us, Youth Agency staff are physically distancing themselves from others BUT we are working from home. Our one to one support service is continuing remotely using a combination of video messaging, telephone calls and messages. Our staff have been in touch with young people who currently use...