P-05-742 Stop Forsythia Closing
P-05-742 Stop Forsythia Closing
This petition was submitted by Forsythia Youth
Centre, having collected 74 signatures. The petition has also collected 533
signatures on an alternative e-petition website.
Text of the
Petition
Forsythia Youth
Centre is at risk of closing due to the uncertainty surrounding Welsh
Government’s Communities First funding. Forsythia Youth Centre is a FREE access
youth provision which is open:
- 4 nights a week for
51 weeks of the year;
- Open during the day
and the evenings throughout school holidays;
- Open on the weekend
if completing project work.
Without fail,
Forsythia has a minimum of 50 young people aged 11-20 from across Gurnos, Galon
Uchaf, Pant, Dowlais and Penydarren, attending every night. Without Forsythia
Youth Centre, young people would not have a safe place to access within their
community and they would not have anywhere else to go due to a lack of other
provision aimed at young people.
Forsythia Youth
Centre offers young people the opportunity to take part in youth projects, such
as 'Commit to Quit' with Ash Wales, Erasmus+ project on 'Attitudes and Values
of Youth Work', and the 'Agenda Project' with Cardiff University. Young people
are also provided the opportunity to access organisations such as Drug Aid,
Sexual Health projects, Smoking Cessation, Mental Health and Confidence
Building, Skills and Qualifications and receive in house support from qualified
youth workers.
Young people and
the workers are very concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the
Communities First funding, as without this funding, Forsythia will have to
close down.
We call on the
National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to ensure that potential
changes to the Communities First programme do not cause the closure of
Forsythia Youth Centre.
Additional Information
1. The young people
involved with Forsythia Youth Centre have been part of a campaign to improve
community safety, which resulted in having a zebra crossing installed outside
of the Youth Centre, lighting installed on the hospital pathways and the
dangerous subway closed which was always full of drug paraphernalia.
2. The young people
are involved with going into local schools and Merthyr Tydfil College to
deliver peer education on Smoking Cessation.
3. The young people
of Forsythia have been involved with the National Assembly for Wales Health and
Social Care Committee during the Forth Assembly, where young people took part
in a focus group meeting with Assembly Committee Members on the new
Psychoactive Substances Inquiry.
4. The Forsythia
Youth Centre has won 18 awards over the past 13 years both locally, nationally
and internationally.
5. Young people at
Forsythia have collected 533 signatures using change.org to support this
petition.
Status
This petition was
considered completed by the Petitions
Committee at its meeting on 09/10/2018.
It was first
considered by the Petitions Committee on 07/03/2017.
Assembly Constituency and Region
- Merthyr Tydfil and
Rhymney
- South Wales East
Further information
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
First published: 02/03/2017