12. Children and Young People in Community Centres
Community Matters maintains that community is all-embracing, and it rega
rds the provision of activities and services for all ages as an essential part of community organisations’ programmes.
Community associations, in particular, need to provide activities that attract all members of the community including young people, who have a valuable role to play in the development of the communities they live in. This potential for intergenerational activities could contribute positively to the community cohesion agenda. When do young people get involved in a community association? Does parent and toddler group lead to junior club, youth club and then to adult membership of the organisation? Are young people also getting involved through mixed age activities – Taekwondo, Football, Dancing, etc?
In fact, these are all part of a mixed picture, providing valuable services and activities for children and young people that will enable them to reach their full potential. Young people will become involved, if at all, in many different ways and at different points in their lives.
Be they leisure, play, social or formal education, every one of these activities has a part to play in enabling the young people to participate effectively in the life of the area where they live, as well as providing a vital source for succession planning.
For more information
To find out about setting up new groups, the staffing procedures that need to be put into place and to read sample safeguarding policy documents, download our information sheets below.
We have a dedicated Children and Young People department at Community Matters. To take a look at the work we have been doing, click here. You will also find other handbooks/toolkits that you might find useful in this section.
Online Guidance and Advice
Click on the following titles to download support
Specimen Documents: