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The YCW recently announced that it will be collaborating with Caritas Westminster on a series on online events aimed at listening to young people and reflecting on their realities.
The first of these is tonight, so please see the details below and sign up if you can:
YCW and Caritas Westminster have teamed up to provide 12 online zoom conversations for young people in the Diocese aged 18-30 to form a "Young Caritas Forum".
This exciting new programme is the result of a partnership between the two organisations that has been developing over the past few years. It will look at various important topics facing young people at the moment, from the impact of Covid to Youth Leadership.
One of the first sessions will be an open enquiry into life at the moment using the SEE, JUDGE, ACT Method of the YCW.
These forums will be held online to ensure it is kept Covid-safe, but it is also hoped that the virtual approach will allow for more people to tune in and attend.
Marc Besford, National President of the YCW, welcomed this new programme saying: “I am really pleased we have been able to pull together this exciting series of events. Our partnership with Caritas Westminster is growing stronger and helping us both reach more people. Please keep an eye out for the events as they appear and tune in,”
The YCW have been working with St Antony’s Centre and their partners throughout the pandemic to bring support to those affected by Covid-19. Alongside Salford Caritas and BCFU (Blackpool Centre for Unemployed) there was agreement that we should see how Covid-19 has impacted young people specifically and explore the range of issues young people are facing in the current climate.
A survey has been created to explore young people’s opinions and feelings on Covid-19’s impact. It is hoped that this will give a greater understanding of how we can all mould our approach to supporting young people post lockdown and beyond.
There are also plans to hold a Young People’s webinar focusing on how young people have been impacted by Covid-19. It is essential young people are given the platform to have a direct input on the response to Covid-19, especially what our partnership of organisations can do to suppor young people. This is a great opportunity for young people to share their thoughts and feelings.
If you would like to help the research please fill in the survey at the link below:
How Covid-19 has impacted young people survey
If you would like to attend the webinar you can register below:
An essential aspect of a YCW Group meeting is the “Review of Life”. This activity allows the young leaders to talk about one thing which has happened recently - a situation, a conversation, a meeting, an event, a challenge in their daily life that involved them or someone they know, made them think a little, feel bad or good, ask questions, get angry, or want help.
Through this, the young leaders can then explore in more detail the most urgent or relevant.
An alternative option for Groups to follow is pick a topic through which to steer the “Review of Life”. Following discussions with those Groups who have started to meet again, the need to explore aspects of life during lockdown and living with the coronavirus will be essential.
Therefore, the YCW National Team have produced some targeted resources that Groups can use to kick start their reviews. These topics include:
Mental Health
Community Work
Education
Key Workers
The Environment
The resources will be available for free on the YCW website (click here to access) and can be used by Groups over a series of weeks/months.
Marc Besford, National Training and Development Worker, said: “We are living in unprecedented times and young people and workers will be massively affected by this. Education has been interrupted, jobs lost or at risk, opportunities harder to find and other challenges that will impact on their future still needing focus. We hope these resources will help our young leaders grapple with some of these and respond with authentic Christian action.”
Last year the YCW highlighted several times the “Year of the Young Worker” initiative being led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) during 2019.
Whilst a recent study concluded that Trade Union membership rose for the third year running, including a significant increase in women joining - the highest level since 1995 - the report was less positive about the number of young people in a trade union.
The report said: “Still too high a proportion of union members are in the public sector when most people are employed in private sector jobs and too many union members are near the end than the beginning of their working lives. Whilst less than one quarter of current union members are aged under 34, more than 40 per cent are aged 50 and over.”
This comes at a time when nearly 90% of under 30s on low to median incomes work in the private sector — but just 6.3% of them are in trade unions.
The YCW Movement in England and Wales used the focus on young workers last year to improve our own collaboration with the TUC and has been working with local trade union branches of the GMB to draw up a Young Workers Charter. Not only this, but we sent a delegate to the Centenary of the International Labour Organisation to represent the voice of young workers in the dscussions.
With clearly a lot more work needed and with the concerns about the impact of Covid on the younger workforce in the economy, we will be prioritising our representation on this issue and engaging with young leaders across the Movement about it.
National Training and Development Worker, Marc Besford, said: “It is important for the YCW to be a strong voice for improving the world of work for young workers. As early as 1891, the Catholic Church recognised that Unions were one of the ways in which the dignity of work could be upheld, today that need is still there.”
The issue of racism has been dominating much of the national and international debate and news coverage in recent times, following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in America. Much of the response has been led by the Black Lives Matter movement, including organising protests and marches.
One particular incident was the pulling down of a statue of Edward Colston. Colston was a merchant who used his wealth to provide financial support to local charitable causes and services. However, much of this wealth was the result of his role in the slave trade, which saw 84,000 slaves transported to America with approximately 18,000 of them dying en route.
Understandably, both the current concerns and historic legacy of racism have come under intense scrutiny. Therefore, in order to help any Group that may want to review this important topic, the YCW has produced a new SEE-JUDGE-ACT resource. This is now available for free to download and can be accessed here.
The Church says that all human life is special and that the dignity of each person is the basis for a just society. This belief is at the heart of all the Church’s teaching about how to live.
The YCW believes that every person is precious, that people are more important than material things, and that all our rules, laws, organisations and practices in society, should exist only to improve the life and dignity of people, and should never threaten it.
Therefore, when racism and discrimination rears it's ugly head, we believe it must be condemned and we commit ourselves to ridding our world of it. At this time of great difficulty and hurt for many of our black brothers and sisters, we renew our commitment to this worthy cause and express our solidarity with those who peacefully protest against injustice.
Black Lives Matter.
