Youth Empowerment Scheme
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The Youth Empowerment Scheme, or YES, was a charity in Belfast that offered a mentoring service to children between 11 and 14 years old.
History
[edit]YES was established in 2001 by participants on the Washington Ireland Program including Chris Johnston, Ryan Moffett, Sarah Quinlan and Andrea Erskine and was based on Teamwork for Tomorrow, a similar scheme run by students at Notre Dame University, United States.[1]
In 2004 YES was awarded the BT Link Award for Challenge with the University of Ulster.[citation needed]
Approach
[edit]YES aimed at empowering the young people of Belfast and encouraging them to be active citizens in their city. It held that youth mentoring could provide young people with positive role models, support and encouragement, and is thus the most effective way of helping them reach their fullest potential as citizens and productive members of society.[citation needed]
Operations
[edit]The Youth Empowerment Scheme was run primarily by student volunteers from the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast. Volunteers received training in child mentoring and in child protection policy and procedures.
YES undertook fundraising activities, reliant on the goodwill of volunteers and donations, to run the charity. Charity fundraisers associated with YES included an event, billed as 'A night at the movies', which was held in early 2005.[2] This fundraising event was held at the Sheridan IMAX movie theatre and raised over £1,500 in box-office takings for the children's charity.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "Alumni Updates". Washington Ireland Program.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Movies Bring Big Box-Office To Children's Charity" (Press release). University of Ulster. 11 March 2005. Archived from the original on 15 October 2006.
External links
[edit]- Youth Empowerment Scheme website (archived 2009)