What is ?   

NUYPP (Netherthorpe and Upperthorpe Young Peoples Platform) is a project that works with young people (8-25 year olds) who are socially excluded, face deprivation and has low self-esteem/confidence. The project aims to promote personal and social development, reduce social exclusion and support young people in being pro-active within the regeneration of their local community. Therefore improving young people's "quality of life".

How did we develop?

We developed through a consultation exercise in Netherthorpe, seven years ago (1997/98). The idea was to see if young people wanted a facility that they could have ownership of and a strong forum that they could use to air their views and opinions. It also gave them the opportunity to use this forum to have a say on what they wanted local funds to be spent on. We began searching for funding from local sources and developed a steering group made up of local young people. The group also began the process of looking for appropriate premises and put together a training package that would enable them to work effectively and seriously.

What do we do?

We provide play and support opportunities for children and young people in the Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe and Langsett area in Sheffield . These opportunities range from trips out, sports and various other workshops held in the evenings and playschemes and outdoor activities during the school holidays. For older young people we provide one to one support around sexual health, independent living and day to day issues. We also act as an advocate and carryout referrals to specialist support organisations/agencies and local projects such as Jobnet at NUCA.

We also assist other youth projects in developing workshops, delivering workshops and putting systems in place such as policies and forms, monitoring and developing ways of consultation with young people.

We also work closely with the local Family Support Services to provide family activities, Peer Mentoring training and offer assistance with the Family Support Service in conflict resolution between a family through mediation.

Who funds us?

We currently receive funding from Big Lottery, Children's Fund and Sports England (Sports Development project), we generate some income through external work that is feed back into the project.

NUYPP have been and are currently looking at ways forward to become less grant dependent and to develop long term contracts with mainstream service providers. We also want to provide more one off activities or workshops for other organisations to income generate and share good practice. A business plan has already been developed for the next four years till 2009 and will be updated annually.

NUYPP is managed and supported by the Netherthorpe & Upperthorpe Community Alliance.

Peer Mentoring

The Peer Mentoring Project was set up a year ago by the Netherthorpe & Upperthorpe Young People's Project, and the Netherthorpe and Upperthorpe Family Support Service.

This project offers additional support to vulnerable, isolated and socially excluded young people. It also offers a range of diverse activities for young people who may be at risk of offending or participating in anti-social behaviour. Local children and young people come from local families who are “in need” or those families who are at the risk of becoming a “Family in Need/Crisis”.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of the project is to provide support, reassurance and befriending to children and young people. Through regular contact with a peer mentor, a child or young person will begin to gain confidence and self-esteem to deal with situations that previously have been difficult. It is also hoped that children and young people will feel more capable of accessing activities and resources within their local community and city-wide by themselves once the peer mentoring relationship ends.

A peer mentor is able to provide one to one support to individuals by:

In order for peer mentors to provide the above support to children and young people they must complete a Peer Mentoring training course, which is accredited at OCN level.

After the completion of the 10 hour Peer Mentoring training course, mentors are offered the option of completing a 25 hour work based placement that covers case management, one to one support work, group work and general playwork activities.

Trained peer mentors may then have opportunities for paid sessional work with NUYPP, Family Support and other local organisations.

Sexual Exploitation

The Netherthorpe and Upperthorpe area falls within the boundaries of Sheffield's red light district, this means that vulnerable young women and young men living in this area are at a greater risk of being groomed into sexual exploitation and street sex work.

In order to minimise this risk, NUYPP and Family Support are looking at providing information including signs and indicator cards for parents and young people. These would provide an insight and an early warning about sexual exploitation. In addition existing peer mentors will be trained to identify early signs of grooming and help enforce the message to children, young people and parents living in the area. This work will be developed in partnership with the Sexual Exploitation Project. Workers from NUYPP and Family Support have recently undertaken training delivered by SWWOP (Sheffield Working Women's Opportunities Project) around this subject.

Substance Misuse and Young People Pilot Project

The Substance Misuse and Young People Pilot Project is aimed at young people aged 12 – 18 years old. The aim of the project is to encourage participants to look at what other options are available to young people who are facing difficulties, or pressure in their lives rather than using substances and alcohol. The project is delivered on a rolling programme of mini workshops looking at family background, how they started using substances, where they used them, how they overcame there dependency and where they are now.

The Project aims:

For more information about this project please contact Neil Marshall at NUYPP on 272 6286.

Sports Development Project

The Sports Development Project aims to encourage and improve local people's health by developing new activities, and the usage of local indoor and outdoor facilities. The three year project will work in partnership with other organisations to develop people's abilities to become coaches and sports leaders. This in turn will enable local people to coach or lead sports and physical activities and so make the project community led and sustainable.

This project is funded by Nuca and Sport England.

For more information regarding this project please contact Chris Bryan, Sports Development Worker on 272 6286. Chris is based at the NUYPP Office, Fawcett Street , Netherthorpe.