Increasing young people’s representation in services and community
Encouraging young people to become more involved in housing, services and local communities in their local area, is a key driver for Elderpark Housing Association. And it’s not just about engagement, there’s a huge challenge in keeping young people on the same page!
Jonathan Giddings Reid, Community Regeneration Officer at Elderpark Housing Association (EHA) will join us at this year’s TPAS Annual Conference to talk about their engagement work with young people, following the Award they received at the National Good Practice Awards 2023 for Best Practice in Developing Community.
The project Junior Community Voice” involves two Govan schools – St Saviour’s and Riverside primaries and encourages young people to be “Junior Community Voice Champions” to understand and act on what matters in the community to young people.
Jonathan Giddings Reid said, “We are developing the junior community voice champion project into a wider ‘young people in community, work and activism’ approach – working with the Princes Trust, NSPCC and Developing the young workforce, so that we can engage and inspire as many young people as we can to become involved and have a voice. Developing routes into housing for young talent is a crucial part of what we hope to achieve.”
In a recent Scottish Housing News article, EHA talks about how they are encouraging young people to consider an apprenticeship in housing.
Lauren Herd, who began her apprenticeship in housing at Elderpark Housing Association in Glasgow, has already got to experience various roles throughout her apprenticeship. She has appealed to others to consider apprenticeships in housing as they take the first steps in their career and said the job can even run alongside going to university.
She said: “I started out as a maintenance administration apprentice, I then had experience in our customer service department before progressing back into maintenance as the administrator responsible for our tenants’ health and safety.
“There are hundreds of housing associations and the good thing about them is that they want to grow their own staff, meaning they nurture and progress you by getting you the training you need.
“You may not feel ready for university now [after leaving school] but you can always go to university whilst working in housing as they’ll support you if you want to do a degree in housing or maintenance for example, it’s a great sector to grow and progress in.”
Encouraging more people to become involved in housing in their local community is an important consideration for us all. Come along to Jonathan’s workshop to find out how EHA are approaching this important task and have your say!
Make sure you have booked your ticket for this year’s TPAS Annual Conference to hear from Jonathan and other interesting speakers. Tickets can be purchased by emailing elaine.scoular@tpasscotland.org.uk More information on the conference and other speakers can be found here.