2122-0032 Young Islington – universal youth work offer

• Act as a champion of high-quality youth work across the borough, be the ‘voice’ of the

sector and of young people.

• Develop cross-borough programmes of youth work, working closely with the providers of

the other Lots, the locality networks, professionals in targeted and specialist services and

other relevant stakeholders to identify gaps, address inequalities and reach into the

communities that may not be engaged currently.

• Provide a local focus of excellence for youth work, championing Islington at regional and

national youth sector events and keying into regional and national support.

• Lead on the workforce development agenda; identifying an appropriate cross-borough

approach to consistently ensuring high quality youth work across the offer in the context of

delivering relationally-based, trauma-informed youth work with an emphasis on ‘earliest’ help

where needed.

• Lead on capacity building for youth work in the borough, working with all partners in the

new offer to develop cross-borough programmes and submit funding bids.

• Ensure consistency in the quality of services and support (e.g. through mentoring,

buddying and reflective practice) and support adherence to shared quality standards across

the partnership.

• Promote the voice of young people and the organisations that work with them. Advocate

for young people’s right to be visible and play a full role in the local community across a

range of forums and to stakeholders including parents/carers, schools, funders and decision

makers.

• Signpost young people and families to the whole of the youth offer and into other services

that could help to meet their needs (health, education, family support services, etc.), as well

as wider relevant universal services.

• Articulate and communicate the impact of quality youth work, amplify the stories and

evidence of what has worked well as a result of the development of networks of

organisations and communities working together

• Develop, deliver and host a high quality, innovative and interconnected programme of

youth work activities, spaces and multi-agency support services for young peoples’

development.

• Provide significant additional social value, e.g. to support young people’s employment.
• Work closely with the other providers and the three locality networks to shape and support

the delivery of high quality youth work across the borough in line with the identified needs.

• Develop a close working relationship with Targeted Youth Support (TYS)1 to ensure that

disengaged and more at risk young people receive support they need at Lift and Rose Bowl.

• Be an ‘outward facing’ provision, which assertively seeks to engage young people who have

not previously been reached by the universal youth work offer, through working with the

locality networks as well as other community and grassroots groups.

• Develop, deliver and host a high quality, innovative and interconnected programme of

youth work activities, spaces and multi-agency support services for young peoples’

development.

• Provide significant additional social value, e.g. to support young people’s employment.
• Work closely with the other providers and the three locality networks to shape and support

the delivery of high quality youth work across the borough in line with the identified needs.

• Develop a close working relationship with Targeted Youth Support (TYS)1 to ensure that

disengaged and more at risk young people receive support they need at Platform.

• Be an ‘outward facing’ provision, which assertively seeks to engage young people who have

not previously been reached by the universal youth work offer, through working with the

locality networks as well as other community and grassroots groups

• Build on the learnings from the pilot phase of the service, identifying features of an effective social prescribing model to meet the wellbeing needs of young people within the 11-25 age range, intervening at the earliest point and with an additional focus on young people living with long-term or physical health conditions.
• Adopt a flexible approach to targeting of the service according to the recognised need locally, this may involve expanding or altering referral partners as the service develops.
• Divert inappropriate referrals from clinical mental health services and provide for un-met need though a non-clinical pathway focused around social and emotional wellness and prevention of mental ill-health.
• Continue to promote understanding of and support for social prescribing approaches to mild to moderate mental health needs among referring organisations, such as the importance of wellbeing conversations.
• Embed the service within the community, including informing and participating in the Locality Youth Networks to work collaboratively with other stakeholders.

Lot 4 will be awarded as a separate contract to the bidder which successfully bids for lot 2. A tenderer will not be awarded lot 2 if they are unwilling or unable to deliver lot 4. Lot 4 cannot be bid for independently as a separate lot. Funding for lot 4 has only been secured for the first 12 month period.