October 2020 blog from Chair of Youth Task Force

Hello everyone, how did we get to October? I do hope you are all keeping well.

World Mental Health Day is coming up so if you are struggling please speak out and ask for help – there’s lots of information and support on offer in Greater Manchester which the Youth Task Force and Youth Advisory Group will be working hard to highlight and signpost people to over the coming months in line with our Staying Well work.

Since my last written post we hosted a virtual session on September 23, which saw more than 100 people log on to join us in sharing our story so far. This included Youth Advisory Group members who are involved in the four thematic workstreams giving fantastic updates on their involvement in the Task Force and developing the Young Person’s Guarantee.

During the session we launched our ‘commitments process’– with us now actively encouraging local organisations and businesses to make tangible commitments to support our work and help young people across Greater Manchester – read more about this on GMCA’s website. Thanks to UA92 and The Prince’s Trust who have already made commitments and are now helping local, young people.

Youth Advisory Group

Since my last update we have again met with our young members who make up the Youth Advisory Group (YAG) and two of its members have recently shared blog posts. So a massive thank you to Bobby and Olivia, and those who have, or will be, sharing posts to be published over the coming months to help spread news of our great work.

Bobby shared his experiences about getting around using public transport, with Olivia talking about how COVID-19 has impacted her, and other young people, mentally. If you missed these blogs you can find them on the YAG blog page (external webpage).

In the coming weeks we are working with YAG members in developing GMACS – Greater Manchester’s apprenticeship and careers service, so it can become their central hub and ‘go-to’ place for all opportunities, support and information on offer to them as part of the Young Person’s Guarantee.

GMACS recently launched an online ‘chat’ function, meaning there are now experts on hand to guide young people on what steps they can take next.

Newsletter

We are excited to have launched our newsletter mid-September. To round up our key activities of the Task Force and about the Guarantee we have started sharing a bulletin which you can sign up to if you are aged 13 or over.

What next?

During October our first thematic work group meetings will be take place, with Task Force members beginning to work more closely together to celebrate commitments that have already been made. We will deliver plans to improve support to young people in the short term and develop future recommendations, that myself and the Youth Advisory Group will submit to the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham in November.

If you missed my latest video update you can watch it on YouTube.

Thank you for reading my post - please get in touch if you have any questions or comments: taskforce@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.

Diane Modahl, Chair of Greater Manchester’s Youth Task Force