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Strategic Plan

2025-2027

Executive Summary

Granton Youth (GY) was established in 2002 and registered as a charity with Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (SC031622).

Our home: Working out of Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, GY provides opportunities for young people aged 11+ years, and their families, living within the North Edinburgh areas of Granton, Wardieburn, Royston, Muirhouse, Drylaw and Pilton to engage in youth work, informal education and programmes supporting their involvement in positive activities and learning opportunities.

GY is recognised through its service delivery of open youth work, outreach work, detached streetwork, counselling, volunteering and schools-based programmes to support and engage our local young people, who actively participate in designing services and programmes we provide.

Download a pdf version of the Strategy document

The Future

Over the next two years our key priorities will be to continue to
support local young people and their families in all the current
settings including; clubs, schools, in their community and in their
homes to provide support for young people and their
parents/carers.


The goal of working with parents and young people to facilitate
more positive relationships is now part of our programme, in line
with previous aims. GY offers practical, social and emotional help
to enable stronger families and more confident and happier young
people.

Funding

In order to achieve our goals and outcomes and maintain a
financially sustainable organisation we will continue to seek
support from a variety of funding bodies.


Projected costs based on our current ambitions for the year ending
March 2025 will be £300k. This will increase to £320k
in the period ending March 2026.


It is anticipated that 90-95% will come from local and national
funding bodies/trusts with the remainder from volunteering time,
skills and resources.

Introduction

Granton Youth (GY) has pleasure in providing an updated Strategy to 2024 that takes account for our key objectives and ambitions for young people within North Edinburgh. This is a dynamic document that will be reviewed on an ongoing basis but forms the foundation and guiding principles of our work.

Objectives and principal activities:

  • Continue to develop innovative projects and programmes for young people to meet the needs which they identify or demonstrate.
  • Create volunteering opportunities for local people.
  • Be involved in relevant partnerships with local organisations, including BWell and North Edinburgh Youth Work Consortium and with city and national organisations.
  • Listen and respond to young people’s views.
  • Support young people in school, in their free time and in their community.
  • Provide support for parents/carers and their children.

We will:

  • Continue to develop innovative projects and programmes for young people to meet their needs.
  • Create volunteering opportunities for local people.
  • Develop relevant partnerships with local organisations, including the North Edinburgh Youth Work Consortium and with city and national organisations.
  • Listen and respond to young people’s views.
  • Support young people in school, in their free time and in their community.
  • Look at ways to provide ‘intergenerational’ support for parents/carers and their children.

The main areas of our activities:

  • The provision of age specific youthwork services.
  • The provision of diversionary activities during school holidays.
  • A detached youth work service delivering interventions in the community to address risk-taking behaviour.
  • The provision of an accredited youth and adult volunteering service.
  • The provision of 1-2-1 and youthwork support in schools.
  • The provision of a counselling service.
  • The provision of a young parents support programme.
  • The provision of an activities/sport outdoor education programme.
  • The provision of a music and creative arts programme.
  • The provision of a holistic family support service to provide mediation and enable parents to support their adolescent children.
  • The provision of 1-2-1 mentoring to develop social skills/networks and reduce isolation

Nancy Massey Charitable Trust

The Russell Trust

Edinburgh Community Health & Wellbeing

Community Mental Health Fund

Dr Guthries

STV Winter fund

Our vision and values for North Edinburgh

A holistic programme to support local young people at GY, in school, in their community and at home. Offering practical, emotional and social support through facilitation, empowerment and challenge – across the various projects and services we offer – to enable young people to reach their true potential.

Young people:

Our services - key actions

Safe / Healthy / Achieving / Nurtured / Active / Respected / Responsible / Included /

Open Access Youth Work

  • Work with young people in aged 11+ in age specific youth clubs,
  • Build trusting relationships and provide activities to support young people throughout school and beyond to young adulthood
  • Provide a space where young people are encouraged to participate, be active and are listened to when they share their views
  • Providing and developing activities to build resilience and confidence, increase selfesteem, self-belief and develop social and practical skills

Schools

  • Identify and support vulnerable young people in collaboration with school staff to provide tailored support Groupwork and 1:1 support.
  • Peer mentoring.
  • Academic support in small groups using informal educational – youthwork approach.

Music

  • Create strong and trusting relationships with staff and peers
  • Increase confidence through music and working together
  • Learn instrumentation, composition and performance
  • Develop people and written communication skills through lyric writing
  • Express emotions and share these as artistic expression of their journey

Counselling

  • Identify and support vulnerable young people, in collaboration with other agencies, with counselling therapy.
  • Deliver in-house non-time limited therapy to young clients
  • Deliver counselling in schools
  • Provide advocacy to young clients in situations where they may feel intimidated or unheard, such as Young Person Planning Meetings CAMHS, GPs, school and/or within criminal system

Intensive Family Support

  • to work with parents/carers of young people who are struggling and provide them with practical, social and emotional support.
  • Work with young people who are experiencing relationship problems with parents/carers
  • 1:1 support & groupwork.
  • Family mediation
  • Provide advocacy with criminal justice system, social services and schools

Mentoring and befriending

  • Work with isolated young people and those who are suffering from anxiety and unable to attend school/youth work services.
  • Build trusting relationships and facilitate improved engagement, social skills and confidence.
  • 1:1 support and activities and, when the young person is ready, facilitate their transition into groupwork to develop social skills and networks.

Volunteer programme

  • Deliver a three pathway model into youth work volunteering
  • Cater for all levels and experience allowing GY to work with all age groups who express an interest.
  • Junior volunteers: less commitment required and a basic learning programme.
  • Youth Volunteers: a designated number of hours and an accredited learning component with a minimum of bronze Youth Achievement Award.
  • Deliver a apprenticeship scheme and support agencies to develop volunteer programmes – for North Edinburgh Youth Work Collaborative
  • Adult volunteer: higher designated hours and a learning component up to PDA Youthwork.

Detached youthwork

  • Youth workers have an active presence on the streets to engage with young people not attending, or excluded, from youthwork agencies.
  • Deliver Universal Brief Interventions, based on the medical model of A (Alcohol) BI to engage in discussions around risk-taking behaviour and motivation for change.
  • Use a harm reduction approach to keep young people safe on the street and refer on to alternative supports.

Health and Activities

  • Develop a programme of activities to engage young people in more physical pursuits to improve their mental, physical and emotional health.
  • Identify those young people least interested in sport or physical activity and/or socially isolated young people and encourage their participation.
  • Build up the levels of activity and push their perceived boundaries to improve self-esteem, confidence and well-being.

Key Actions

Our Future

The values which underpin our work combined with our commitment to delivering high quality services, support us in achieving the ambitions we have for young people in north Edinburgh.

This Strategic Plan places young people at its centre and supports us to move to the next level of delivering quality services and programmes which are needs based and achieve the best possible outcomes.

We are confident that this strategy provides a roadmap for connecting with young people an supporting them to reach their full potential.

A word of thanks

We want to place on record our thanks to both the City of Edinburgh Council and the Royston & Wardieburn Community Centre Management Committee for their support during the period of our move from our previous home and look forward to continuing to develop our partnership with them and others in the coming years.

Thanks also:
To all those who support our work
To our amazing volunteers
To our dedicated staff

Mary Q -Burnside
Manager | Counsellor | Youth Worker
E: mary@grantonyouth.com
t: 0131 552 6741 | 07952 369 811
www.grantonyouth.com

https://grantonyouthcentre.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/IQCjctgscGQDQ49O7b13zX7cAe_RejNdcrSfMJ6Z8YWsk4s?e=XLEAtf

Download our strategic plan as a PDF by clicking on the link above, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about this.