Educational & Social Services

COMMUNITY LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

Dialogue Youth

Dialogue Youth is a major national youth initiative for 12-25 year olds and is an important part of the Scottish Executive's agenda to modernise the way government works at local and national levels.

Dialogue Youth aims to promote cross-departmental and joint agency approaches to the development and delivery of services for young people.

They are linked to the nationally established Young Scot initiative and services such as the Premier and Original book for young people, Tutor Resource Pack and the Young Scot card which provides discounts at over 1800 outlets nationally and in 42 countries over the world. The card also carries a proof of age PASS logo.

Each of the 32 Dialogue Youth units in Scotland have their own website which is linked to the national Young Scot website at www.young.scot.org. Both these sites offer a wealth of advice and information for young people on topics such as health, housing, legal advice and money. The local and national sites are also used as a consultation tool to gather the views of young people on the services which affect them.

At a local level, Dialogue Youth is also an ideal route for young people to become involved in their community through links with local youth forums, Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament activity and Hack Pack web journalism where young people learn to upload their own material on the Dialogue Youth website.

Dialogue Youth works in partnership with schools, youth organisations and other professionals to stimulate lifelong learning, youth mobility, community safety, healthy lifestyles and enterprise and citizenship education through the promotion of Young Scot resources and the use of new technology.

Quotes from young people

"I have learned a lot about Dialogue Youth in the last few weeks and really enjoyed it" (Natalie - Work experience person age 17)

"I think Young Scot rocks" (Rowan - age 12)

If you are interested in becoming involved in Dialogue Youth then we would like to hear from you

Dialogue Youth East Ayrshire is looking for young people who want to have their say in what happens in the area.

As part of the Dialogue Youth Action Group this is what you can do.

You will be part of a team who work with us, making sure that what we do is really what young people like yourself want. In return you will have the opportunity to:

• Participate in "Hack Pack" training which will enable you to update the local pages of the Young Scot website and develop your journalism Skills
• Meet up with other young people across East Ayrshire and across Scotland
• Be part of the East Ayrshire Youth Forum
• Achieve recognition for your work through programmes such as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award

The opportunities are endless because you have the power to decide!

If gaining valuable experience and skills as well as making a difference for the young people of East Ayrshire interests you then drop an e-mail to margaret.gardiner@east-ayrshire.gov.uk or call Dialogue Youth on 01290 429374.