Sheffield Labour councillors has pledged a £2 million investment in their new plan to update and support youth services.

Sheffield City Council is calling on the public to help in adapting their plan to fit the changing needs of the youth, by launching two surveys for both young people and carers.

The previous plan in collaboration with the charity ‘Sheffield Futures’ ended in late September 2020 and now the council aims to run things internally with help from the new funding.

Sheffield Labour Councillors, via the website ‘ShefNews’, said: “we want to empower people to have their voices heard on the matters that mean the most to them and create a youth service strategy that has been co-produced with young people themselves”.

Currently there is a wide range of youth services across Sheffield, such as 19 youth clubs, careers advice and guidance, community youth team support, sexual exploitation support, youth cabinet and help for individuals not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Councillor Abitsam Mohamed, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills at Sheffield City Council, said: “we want to provide support with a coordinated approach, taking our young people on a positive journey into adulthood.”

Allison’s story.

Allison Birch, 19, is a Sheffield University Student originally from Shrewsbury, she received little support from home and struggled trying to access mental health support  while living here since September.

Her mother is disabled and clinically vulnerable, and she has not been able to have any physical contact since arriving in September (excluding two weeks at Christmas) it made her feel quite alone.

Miss Birch said: “its frustrating when I feel so far away from my family when geographically I’m not”.

Allison explains that she was placed on a waiting list for their actual waiting list and has received no actual support at all even though she contacted them a month ago.

She said: “I think it would be good thing to have more awareness for what’s available to young people because I didn’t know about the services I was trying to access”.

The online surveys end on the 30th of April 2020.

Young Peoples survey – https://online1.snapsurveys.com/s/7vi2zs

Parents or Carers survey – https://sheffield.citizenspace.com/resources/youth-services-strategy-public-feedback/