COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Christy and Dermot are the main facilitators for our Community Relations "Us & Them" program. Over 40 young people from diverse community backgrounds have completed this training to date.

C.L.A.S.S

Community Learning And Social Skills. Barney is the "main man" for this training. In the last 4 year period we have successfully enabled over 55 young people from across the City to achieve NOCN Level 1 Citizenship in the Community accreditation. All thanks to Barney's skills and support.

COOKING

Not all food comes out of a packet or is cooked in a microwave! As part of our capacity building projects over 40 young people have learned to cook REAL FOOD! We have also added a Cultural Cooking theme to this initiative ..... not all Chinese or Indian food has to come from a takeaway either! Watch out for our new Credit Crunch Cooking coming soon. John and Mary are our brilliant cooking tutors with a wealth of experience in the catering and education fields. .

CRAFTS

Young people enjoy making things EVEN TEENAGERS! ...especially if they end up with something they like and can use. Claire has a wealth of experience and her workshops are a great success.

DRUGS & ALCOHOL AWARENESS

An essential awareness raising workshop for young people who are faced with choices about drugs and alcohol on a daily basis. Also essential for parents .... find out exactly what to watch out for. We have three qualified "in house" tutors who deliver this training.

ENVIRONMENTAL "CLEAN UPS"

We believe in encouraging young people to "give something back" to the community and respect the environment. Either in their own area or shared spaces we organize, facilitate and provide all the necessary equipment and safety gear for these initiatives.

Fire Safety at Work

Another new training opportunity for 2015 and one which, we have delivered as a "stand alone" training course and as part of our wider Practical Skills for Employment Program. This classroom and practical training initiative affords young people, not only with information as to the danger of potential fire hazards from "essential" items to their everyday lives e.g. mobile phones, hair straighteners, laptops etc and how to avoid and deal with such hazards, but also workplace related legislation, training and certification. We have successfully enabled over 70 young people from local schools and youth groups to complete this training in the last 6 months alone!

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Our Global Citizenship program has now been operating for over 6 months. It looks at the role and responsibilities of young people in different continents and sub continents of the world; religion and politics around the world; division & diversity in other parts of the world; and global wealth. It encourages young people who are "immersed" in their own "world" and the wider events within NI to "look outside the box". Watch out for our new "Four Colours of Man" program coming soon.

INTERACTIVE LEARNING

If they can see it, touch it and question it then they will have a better chance of understanding and remembering it. Our interactive learning is designed to promote the inclusion and participation ALL young people in the developmental and educational process. We target interest ... their natural curiosity develops knowledge.

MUSIC

Music has always been the in the ownership of the next generation and is often core to the interest and expression of young people in terms of "who they are". We work closely with DJ Kwa to utilize this medium to break down barriers, create common focus and interest, show how influences from all parts of the world are "mixed" to create a better experience. Dedicated DJ training is also afforded under a separate program to enhance employment opportunities. Which has already worked for one lucky lad!

POLITICS

Politics still has a great influence on young people within NI and is often detrimental to them fully embracing the Caring, Sharing and Integration objective for the future. Too often young people live within the "political bubble" of their own community or current events. Through educational visits and interactive workshops we endeavour to provide them with opportunity to understand how politics works and how they can encourage their politicians to work for them at local, regional and national levels.

VOLUNTEERING

A core focus of our YO! Project. We work closely with the NW Volunteer Centre to deliver and facilitate the Millennium Volunteers Awards Program. Over the last 5 years 25+ young people registered on this initiative, with our Organization providing volunteer mentoring, "in-house" and external training provision, volunteer placements and signposting services. In the last 12 months we have enabled an additional 10 young people to achieve their 200 hour Millennium Volunteer Award with another 10 registered for the year 2015-16.

Young Offenders

We work closely with the PSNI, PCSP, YJA and Prison to Peace program to deliver intervention initiatives for young people "at risk" of becoming and/or young offenders. We also deliver the PSNI CHOICES initiative. Much of our work in this field is through direct referral systems, however our summer diversionary programs are designed and delivered through our outreach provision on a wider community platform.

Child Protection/Keeping Safe Training

NEW! Whilst all our staff and volunteers regularly undertake CP training we feel this new initiative will extend the opportunity to others. This aims to afford those planning to work in the field of children and young people's services to gain an essential insight and recognized training module to facilitate their progress. During the last 12 month period through working in partnership with community/youth providers. local schools and the NW Volunteer Centre over 30 young people have successfully undertaken this new training initiative.

FIRST AID TRAINING

We have two fully qualified First Aid Trainers and an additional 3 First Aid Responders on our team. Having basic first aid skills can literally mean the difference between life and death for some young people after a night out on the town! Our staff and volunteers enable young people to gain these skills. NEW! We are also now able to offer fully accredited courses in Emergency First Aid & First Aid at Work - not only are these essential "life skills" qualifications but are fully recognized by employers.

Level 2 Food Safety

NEW! Once again another new initiative which can be delivered as a "stand alone" training module or as part of our Practical Skills for Employment Program. This was one of the most requested courses by many over the young people we have worked with over the last 18 month period, in terms of their recognizing its benefits for enhancing their opportunities for securing P/T employment. During the last 18 month period we have successfully secured and facilitated the delivery of this fully accredited course to over 120 young people in partnership, with local schools and community & youth providers.

Community Safety

Youth Intervention and Diversionary Programs are very much our core focus and the basis of why we "created" our Organisation to begin with. We work closely with local youth justice agencies and community safety partnerships to EXTRACT, EDUCATE & EMPOWER young people involved in or "at risk" in relation to Anti-Social Behaviour/Low Level crime and negative life choices. Such initiatives can take the form of short term social skills "alternatives" intervention or a more strategic developmental training program such as our recent Transformers Project.

OCN Youth Leadership Skills

A new initiative for 2014-15 sourced at the request of young people and one which, has proven extremely popular and successful. Delivered in partnership with the team at REACH ACROSS 15 young people to date, have successfully undertook accredited learning modules, combined with practical planning, delivery and evaluation sessions for their younger peers. Due to the popularity and capacity building outputs we witnessed in relation to this "pilot" program, we intend to incorporate it as one of our core youth empowerment initiatives for 2015-16.

Decisions & Debate

Affording and facilitating young people with the opportunity to meet with decision makers at both local and regional levels: and thereby to put forward their perspectives and concerns has always been one of our main objectives. These initiatives are usually delivered through an extended program which includes information and interactive workshops to "educate and enable" participants to prioritize their concerns, decide who they would like to meet and what they want to know. Facilitated engagement events with key "decision makers" then follow, which to date have included: Local Councillors & MLA's; Neighbourhood Policing Teams; Emergency Services; Community Safety Wardens and Community Safety Partnerships; Ex-Prisoner/ Combatant groups; Bands Forums and Sporting Bodies. This initiative is is often incorporated within the Citizenship element of our hugely successful PACT Program. COMING SOON .. THE VOICES PROGRAM! - Debating Skills for Young People & HOW GOVERNMENT WORKS.

Exploring Outdoor Pursuits - Levels 1 & 2

COMING SOON! A unique opportunity to incorporate our core outdoor learning with a fully overarching accredited qualification. We are extremely excited about this new initiative, developed through consultation with young people and designed to facilitate youth and community providers to meet that essential "developmental" output , within a practical and enjoyable activity program designed to promote "buy in" from those young people often most hard to reach.