Expression of interest for The Bridge NDC Mobile Youth Bus
By: The Bridge NDC Health Theme Manger
This offer is only open until Friday 5th December 2008.
Purpose
To engage an organisation that has the capacity to take on the detached youth work delivery in South Tottenham, maintenance and activity costs of the seven and half tonne mobile youth bus.
Background
The idea for The Bridge NDC Youth Bus came from the young people of South Tottenham and was based upon best practice developed nationally. The youth bus developed as a project in response to consultation held in 2005, when young people identified the need for the mobile bus to plug a gap in local youth provision.
The Youth bus is used to target hot spot areas of youth nuisance based on priority analysis that is provided through Safer Neighbourhood Team, Haringey Youth Service, local residents and NDC Youth Project manager.
In addition, the bus offers a resource through which wider youth consultation can be undertaken and information distributed. The youth bus currently provides a wide range of diversionary activities and resources for young people in South Tottenham.
- Magnet activities offered during these sessions includes:
- Access to the internet
- Use of DJ equipment and Music Lab
- Play station
- Television and DVD
- A wide range of games
Additionally, the youth workers provide a range of information sessions, including healthy living, sexual health, alcohol and substance misuse, careers guidance and advice.
- The youth bus is currently staffed by Haringey Youth Service as follows
- Senior Detached Youth Worker
- One Full Time Detached Youth Worker
- Bus Driver
The above staff are directly employed by Haringey Youth Service to operate the bus for its standard programme of targeted visits on 4 nights a week plus a series of ad-hoc projects. Two youth workers are needed at all times to operate the bus for health and safety reasons. In busier areas (where 20 – 30 young people visit the bus on a night) three workers are needed. In addition, the full time youth workers do not only work on the bus on a night as they are responsible for planning and preparing the various activities and/or educational sessions delivered on the Bus. They also plan and deliver activities which are taken forward with young people attending the Bus sessions as well as local public meetings at the request of Councillors, Youth Service or other partners. They also give presentations to schools regarding the Youth bus and its activities, or take the bus to community based project during the day as part of various consultation exercises.
A Summary of the youth bus work to date
Over the last few years, through various community feedback as well as youth consultations, there has been clear evidence of the "lack of things to do" for young people in South Tottenham. The overall number of young people attendances on the Youth Bus is a clear indication of this need. In the period March 2006 – September 08 the Youth Bus had over ? attendances and all have benefited, to a greater or lesser extent, from its presence.
More importantly, the bus has been a very important resource in targeted community safety work. A few notable examples are the following:
- the work with “hard to reach” young people on Stone bridge and Edgecot estates in partnership with the Police.
- sign posting and diverting young people to building based youth provision i.e. Triangle, Bruce Grove and Chestnuts youth centres
- delivery of alcohol and substance misuse awareness sessions, healthy living and smoking cessation sessions, in partnership with the PCT;
- the bus being a C-card distribution centre towards promoting safe sex and tackling teenage pregnancies;
- the bus being a consultation tool for hundreds of young people across South Tottenham
In terms of addressing anti-social behaviour the bus has run various programmes of targeted work at youth nuisance hot-spot areas, and where it has visited, youth nuisance has reduced, supported by both anecdotal evidence and police statistics. Data available for 2007-2008 showed a much greater reduction in youth nuisance in Bus targeted areas. Unfortunately current Police statistics do not record youth nuisance statistics separately, but additional (statistically significant) evidence from the BVPI General Survey indicates that respondents in wards not visited as part of the Bus’s targeted programme see “teenagers hanging around the streets” as a bigger problem than in areas targeted by the Youth Bus.
The Youth Bus is in demand and has been a valuable resource for South Tottenham in many ways, whether as leisure/diversionary activity, an educational and ICT resource centre, as well as a "targeting hotspots" response vehicle. There is also untapped potential for bus usage in developing outreach day time provision working closely with educational/ training providers targeting young people not in education, employment or training.
To date the Youth Bus has been funded on a yearly basis by The Bridge NDC to cover the maintenance costs. The staff costs are covered by Haringey Youth Service. This partnership arrangement is due to came to an end by March 2009, as the NDC is closing in on its delivery programme and prioritising succession and legacy projects. Furthermore Haringey Youth Service financially is not able to take on the annual maintenance costs of the bus.
Therefore The Bridge NDC is seeking an organisation that has the capability, expertise, financial capacity and willingness to take on the project and sustain the partnership work with Haringey Youth Service to deliver detached youth work.
The conditions of the transfer are:
- The youth bus and all its equipment will be transferred over by The Bridge NDC without any charge
- To maintain the current level of service delivery in partnership with Haringey Youth Service
- The core purpose of the bus will be to continue with the of development of detached youth work in South Tottenham for a minimum of 2yrs, starting from March 2009 and commencing to March 2011
- There after the use of the bus will remain in the London Borough of Haringey to develop and deliver community based projects
Cost breakdown:
Youth Bus Budget 2008-09
- Annual maintenance contract costs £8,106.8
- Insurance costs £1,387.74
- Repair contingency £5,000
- Running costs/ Petrol £3, 500
- Secure parking costs £2,912
- Full time senior detached youth worker £20.00 p/h
- Part time and Tutor £15.00p/h
- Bus driver £15.00p/h
- Activity cost £3’000
- Training £1’500
This offer is open until Friday 5th December 08.
For further Information please contact Mohamed Hammoudan
on: Email: mohamed.hammoudan@haringey.gov.uk
Tel: 020 8489 8714 Mobile: 07870157705
