Charity Utilises Social Media to Raise Awareness

by The Youth Life Project on Thursday, 19 April 2012 at 00:17 ·

Swindon April 2012 - On Sunday 15th April, a Twitter hashtag campaign was kicked off by The Youth Life Project founder Danielle Brown. The aim of the campaign, was to take Swindon’s twitter community back to their youth with a series of fun and provocative tweets with the #YouthStories hashtag to raise awareness for Swindon based youth charity TYLP.

The Youth Life Project aims to restore the faith lost in young people and equip them with the skills required to make positive life choices. Providing a service for young people in the region aged 10-19 to utilise, The Youth Life Project is born from the passion of its founder Danielle Brown for the care and well-being of young people.

"The idea just came to me, there was no preconceived plan to start #YouthStories and initially thought just a few people would get involved," said Danielle Brown. "After two or three tweets I noticed a few friends had joined in. Within a short space of time it had really taken off and the tweets were no longer just coming from Swindon. We had a people tweeting in London, Kent, Brighton and even the USA which I thought was great and really highlights the power social media can have."


"In just over 3 hours we had 608 mentions of #YouthStories, some of them really took me back to my youth. The memories people were sharing brought me back to a care free time which I now look back on with great fondness. The message I wanted to share with people was that of hope that future generations are able to look back with the same affection as those who participated in #YouthStories last weekend. It is important we lay the foundations for them now to ensure this amazing stage of life is as fun and fruitful as possible, something we strive to do at The Youth Life Project.

Some of the best tweets have been listed below

@GrimSickers1: Pretending the carpet was water and the couch was an island and trying not to drown #youthstories

@KelzQuince: doing that massive jump in and out of bed incase the boogie man gets your feet! #youthstories

@LadyZz_88: Eating a sugary doughnut without licking your lips #YouthStories

@littlechloe87 Going to nappy nights in a mini skirt and your Adidas trainers #youthstories

@TYLP_Swindon: Taping westwood on a Friday night and having to press pause every time he 'dropped a bomb' #youthstories

@SupaStarSLIME: Tamagochi #YouthStories

@kirstytelling Fun house whole lotta fun prizes to be won
It's a real crazy show where anything will go
#YouthStories

@ShortyWakefield Adidas poppers thinkin I was hip and busting a french crop #YouthStories

@Armani_jeans "Mum I'm going ice skating this friday" when really I was going 2 link centre 2 get drunk haha #YouthStories


*Danielle Brown is seeking further funding to support The Youth Life Project, if you are interested in supporting the project please email danielletylp@gmail.com
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Thoughts and facts on bullying

Bullying is something which most of us have experienced or seen in our lives. It's sad to think that a lot of people who are bullied, often retreat into their own worlds and are too ashamed to reach out for help, and are often too scared to trust anyone. It's even more disheartening to know that bullying can drive some people to suicide! -That right there is the seriousness of it all, BULLYING KILLS! "Bullied children are 6 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their non-bullied counterparts"As a parent I understand that myself, along with school teachers, are the biggest influence in my children's lives. With my help and guidance my children learn to live and understand life in general, my children rely on me for security and they know they can turn to me to confide in. "18% of children and young people who worried about bullying said they would not talk to their parents about it".
My daughter aged 8, is bubbly, bright, confident, cheeky and full of life, but throughout most of last year [2011] this was not the case. She suffered at the hands of a bully in her school class and the confident young girl we know was now quiet, withdrawn, emotional and insecure. As a parent, all you want is for your children to be happy and most of all to be safe. She doesn't know it, but I cried for her on many occasions. "Almost half (46%) of children and young people say they have been bullied at school at some point in their lives" Even when myself along with her school worked hard and put a stop to the bullying, and built her confidence back up, she still wasn't the same girl she always was. This is because she felt intimidated by the other girl. It was only when the girl in question moved schools, that my daughter got her spark back and is now the ever loving cheeky little girl that everyone loves. But how would she be today if the girl had not have left that school?　
This is my point.. It is not always enough to just intervene and stop the bullying itself from happening. It is not always enough to help the victim in feeling safe, secure and confident. When all that is done, the bully is still a bully, being told no and being watched closely doesn't always change a big deal. We need to find out why they bully, we need to go deeper into the situation to prevent it ever happening again and furthermore we need to then assure the victim of the changes made and assure them it wont be happening again. If we can change their mentality and install remorse then this will play a big part in prevention.
I know that this method does take place, but in my opinion it should happen with every situation and not just the serious ones. Here at TYLP we believe that early intervention is the best prevention. We shouldn't wait for a situation to become extreme before we take the biggest actions. As I stated earlier... BULLYING KILLS. "Each year 10-14 youth suicides are directly attributed to bullying"

The Youth Life Project develop interactive youth club

Daniel Webb | 15/03/2012 | 0 Comments

‘THE YOUTHY’

With cuts forcing the closure of many youth clubs across the country, voluntary organisation, The Young Life Project (TYLP) has announced plans that an interactive online based youth club will be launched in the spring.
With a launch date expected to be announced in early April, TYLP intend to make the most of the growing trend in interactive web-based services with the groundbreaking website aimed at 10-19 year olds – ‘The Youthy’.

‘restore the faith lost in young people’

The Youth Life Project aims to restore the faith lost in young people and equip them with the skills required to make positive life choices. Providing a service for young people in the region aged 10-19 to utilise, The Youth Life Project is born from the passion of its founder Danielle Brown for the care and well-being of young people.

‘Aiming to raise £2,000′

Since the foundation of TYLP, the momentum of support has been gathering pace as the organisation seeks to become an established charity in Swindon and the wider West Country. Aiming to raise £2,000 to get ‘The Youthy’ live, TYLP will be holding its first fundraising event in the spring.
“TYLP has grown from a seed in my mind and the feedback and support received has been so fruitful that we are looking to engage the youth sooner than had originally been anticipated” said TYLP founder Danielle Brown. “The operating costs to run a youth club are extremely high and even with the support gained so far this is currently an unsustainable venture.”
“Knowing some people may be reserved or shy about discussing things close to their heart, we are launching ‘The Youthy’ website to engage with the youth who have become more accustomed to being online than meeting like minded peers in youth clubs. Face to face contact in a youth club would be our preferred medium, but with the development and prevalence of internet based tools it would be silly to over look a medium which the youth are already comfortable with.”

Slang for youth club, ‘The Youthy’ is already a familiar term amongst the youth and has been adopted by TYLP as part of its branding.

“We hope the website is a hit amongst its target audience and reinforcing a sense of familiarity will be crucial to making the project a success in its early days.

Danielle Brown is seeking further funding to support The Youth Life Project, if you are interested in supporting the project please email danielleyouthlifeproject@gmail.com. Or visit the website, where you can also donate http://www.theyouthlifeproject.com/

show some love, and like the facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Youth-Life-Project/302669833086081

The Youth Life Project (TYLP)

NAME: The Youth Life Project
TAGLINE: 'Dedicated to improving the lives and well-being of young people'
FOUNDER: Danielle brown


MISSION STATEMENT:The Youth Life Project is a group of friendly, positive people that are passionate about getting the voice of the youth heard by providing a channel through which they can communicate their thoughts, feelings and concerns. We are dedicated to providing help and support for young people aged between 10-19 reach their full potential, building a better and brighter future, not only for themselves but for the next generation of young people who are in great need of inspirational role-models.



THE AIMS OF THE YOUTH LIFE PROJECT:
.HOLD AWARENESS CLASSES- focusing on such issues as drugs, crime, sexual health, and obesity.
.HELP TACKLE YOUTH UNEMPLOYEMENT- Help with writing CV's/business plans, find other ways to keep young people active and motivated whilst seeking employment, information/links to jobs and courses in and around Swindon.
.ENGAGE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY- help them organise/take part in fundraising events, help out around the community, give them an active and positive role within the community
.SET UP A RANGE OF CLASSES WITH CERTIFICATES UPON COMPLETION -sign language, basic first aid, anger management .
.REWARD- praise, publicise and reward young people and their efforts. This can be anything from young carers, to youths that are helping out in the community.

http://www.theyouthlifeproject.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Youth-Life-Project/302669833086081