Written by VAS (Voluntary Action Sheffield)
What is the SY-NC project?
The SY-NC (Sheffield Youth Neighbourhoods and Communities) project aims to develop skills and capacity through convening and supporting Area Hubs in key areas of Sheffield. The lead hub partner will coordinate activity to develop trust, build local multi-agency relationships and deliver youth-led community development.
Increasing numbers of children, young people, and families within our city are adversely affected by high levels of poverty, serious violence, school exclusions, mental health issues, exploitation, and offending, in many ways driven by inequality in the city.
Given the scale and complexity of issues that young people are facing, there is a need and an opportunity to collaborate across both statutory and community partners to develop shared purpose and approaches to working with young people in their communities.
Consultation with South Yorkshire Police and other statutory partners has enabled SY-NC to identify areas of the city where young people are most acutely affected by crime, multiple deprivation, and as a result, exploitation. SY-NC have explored definitions of exploitation and would like the work to be open to community interpretation of what types of exploitation exist for its residents.
SY-NC would also like to include adults in the work and perspectives from multiple groups within a community.
Why is the SY-NC project needed?
Increasing numbers of children, young people, and families within our city are adversely affected by high poverty levels, serious violence, school exclusions, precarity, mental health issues, exploitation, and offending, in many ways driven by inequality in the city.
Given the scale and complexity of issues that young people are facing, there is a need and an opportunity to collaborate across both statutory and community partners to develop shared purpose and approaches to working with young people in their communities. Consultation with South Yorkshire Police and other statutory partners has enabled SY-NC to identify areas of the city where young people are most acutely affected by crime, multiple deprivation and as a result, exploitation. SY-NC have explored definitions of exploitation and would like the work to be open to community interpretation of what types of exploitation exist for its residents. SY-NC would also like to include adults in the work and perspectives from multiple groups within a community.
What we believe:
What are the principles that under pin this work?
To create equity, we must place people at the heart of change. Young people, their families and communities thrive when they’re empowered to make their own choices and decisions.
People should be able to control and use their own assets and insight to influence what happens in communities and therefore influence policy making and investment in the city.
Collaboration, sharing experiences and learning is key to our shared success. Coming together in hubs of groups and organisations and networks strengthens peoples’ voices. And If we join things up we discover the abundance of talent, skill, experience and opportunity.
Children and young people are our leaders. When we channel their ability to dream and create new, we can create change worthy of their future. We can learn from young people in this space to tackle the barriers they see and empower them to overcome them.
The SY-NC project has been developed, piloted and is led by the Voluntary and Community sector in Sheffield.
We will:
- Build community led local area partnerships in the areas where exploitation is highest, working with communities to understand and address local needs
- Involve young people meaningfully in the design and delivery of the local offer
- Provide training and development to the community-based workforce
- Provide training and development to young adults to develop a new layer of community workers and leaders
- Work in partnership with stakeholders across “the system” (including Council services, police, justice, health, and VCF organisations) to improve outcomes for children, young people, and families
Ensure meaningful community input to citywide youth strategy.
Introducing the area hubs
In 2023 SY-NC will focus on funding infrastructure, capacity, and activities that reduce exploitation.
The areas we are prioritising in the SY-NC programme are:
- Burngreave and Firth Park
- Darnall and Tinsley
- Manor and Arbourthorne
- Southey and Shiregreen
- Upperthorpe and Broomhall
In the first part of this year, we will identify and support our first 3 area hubs to set up and bring communities together. We are therefore inviting expressions of interest from voluntary and community organisations based in the 5 priority areas to download and complete the form below to tell us about how you could be a hub partner going forward.
Empowerment fund
This year we will also launch SY-NC’s Empowerment Fund to support organisations and exploited groups in these priority areas. This fund will be used to fund core costs, delivery of activities, and with support for training and capacity building. If you are interested in applying to this fund, you can sign up to our mailing list to receive updates from the SY-NC project and information about when the fund is launched.
For more general information about the SY-NC project, click here.
Download the partner expression of interest form here.
For enquiries relating to the SY-NC project contact sy-ncenquiries@vas.org.uk
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