What is the SY-NC project?
The new South Yorkshire Neighbourhood and Communities (SY-NC) project helps 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.
Why is the SY-NC project needed?
Increasing the numbers of children, young peoples, and families within our city are adversely affected by high levels of poverty, serious violence, school exclusions, mental health issues, exploitation, and offending. This in many ways is 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 exists for its residents. SY-NC would also like to include adults in the work and perspectives from multiple groups within a community.
Principles underpinning the 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 or groups of organisations and networks strengthens peoples’ voice.
- Children and young people are our leaders. When we channel their ability to dream and create new, we can create change worthy of the future. We can learn from the young people we see and empower them to overcome them.
The SY-NC project has been developed, piloted and is lead by the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in Sheffield.
Priorities of the work
- 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 service, polic, justice, health, VCS)
- 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 that will be prioritising in the SYNC programme:
- Burngreave and Firth Park
- Darnall and Tinsley
- Manor and Arbourthorne
- Southey and Shiregreen
- Upperthorpe and Broomhall
In the first part of this year, the first three area hubs will be identified and supported to bring communities together.
A current expression of interest is open to VCS organisations based in the five localities outlined above to become Area Hubs for 12 months initially. Complete your expression of interest by downloading, completing and returning the form to [email protected] by Friday 24th February.
Future work
This year the SY-NC Empowerment Fund will be launched 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.
Join the SY-NC mailing list by click the button below to receive updates from the SY-NC project and information about when the fund is launched.
