To receive a verbal report on the latest activities of the Young Mayor and Young Cabinet.
Minutes:
The Young Mayor reported on the following activities in which he and Young Cabinet Members and/or Youth Councilors had been involved:
· Shiremoor Adventure Playground had received 10 bags of produce to complete the first pilot of Ready, Set, Grow-the cost-of-living crisis cookery competition. The Environment Committee and Young Mayor had requested support from schools with this project. These schools including Norham High were set to create low-cost dishes.
· £1500 had been discharged in grants through the Young Mayor’s Community Grant Scheme over the summer. £500 was awarded to the West Allotment Wildings for a board games night.
· £1000 had been awarded to the Young Carers Centre for numerous activities across the summer with their 16 -19-year-old members as part of the work to provide more positive activities for young people which was something that came out as a priority at the Youth Council conference.
· Several youth councillors and Young Mayor had taken part in a sponsored walk along the River Tyne and the coast to St Mary’s Island, the money raised going into the fundraising pot for Pathways 4 All, with over £700 raised so far.
· The Young Mayor attended the successful opening of the North Shields Transport Hub and North Tyneside Together Event.
· The Young Mayor had met with Council officers regarding the new Vape Disposal Bins and would be working with the team to help support this project from a young persons perspective and helping track the progress and outcomes.
· Visitors from the Connect Mental Health team had attended Youth Council and give details of the new created Padlet online space, which included helpful information about keeping good mental health and how young people could get support if needed.
· The Mayor had met with a representative from Nexus regarding the North East Youth Transport Forum regarding issues around safety on the metro and the reliability of services. All local authorities in the Northeast had been approached to join us in this project.
· A visit from the School Improvement Officer who shared the statutory PHSE information with the young people, and asked members about their own experiences in school which would be used to help shape the service, and discussed how schools could get involved in the White Ribbon campaign.
· Youth Councillors, the Member of Youth Parliament and Young Mayor had attended State of the Area Event in October. In August, they had Youth worked with the Council’s teams to develop a series of workshops for the event: Education for Life, Access Everywhere, Feeling Safe, Climate Futures and Participation in Democracy. They would be helping follow up on actions that came from this event as part of the ‘Year of the Voice of the Child.’
· The Young Mayor had met with a member of the I met with a member of Public Health on the new policy around the Police change to responding to people with mental health issues, with strategies in place to ensure that people received the appropriate responses.
· Local Democracy Week commenced this week starting with the Youth Council debate on 17th October. Four schools would be debating the following topics: Public funds should be diverted from being invested in the motor industry and instead be invested in better public transport. Young People should be allowed to vote at 16 years old. Those interested were welcome to observe the debate and the Young Person’s Question Time on 20th October to be held in Council Chamber, at Quadrant.
The Deputy Mayor thanked the Young Mayor for his update.