Project casebook: Positive Futures dance event, Wacky Forum Spring Prom, Know More, Dorset's Personal and Social Development Course

POSITIVE FUTURES DANCE EVENT

Aim: To give young dancers a showcase and raise awareness of drugs issues

Funding: A share of £13,000 from the Home Office

Dance group Diversity may have scooped the crown in Britain's Got Talent but they're not the only ones who can use dance to inspire others.

Performers from Positive Futures projects in London and the south-east took over Leicester Square Gardens one day last month for a dance event linked to National Tackling Drugs Week.

Children's minister Baroness Morgan was among those watching when dancers and free-runners from Basildon, Sutton, Watford and Westminster performed routines before joining forces for a grande finale.

"It was a really nice informal event, and the kids were just really excited to be performing in Leicester Square," says Hannah Trickey, Positive Futures co-ordinator for Sutton. "It really did attract the crowds and the theme of the day came through."

Project workers and volunteers helped raise awareness of drugs issues by handing out information and performers talked about the positive impact of dance.

The dance extravaganza was co-ordinated by 20-year-old Keeley Wilcox, who recently qualified as a dance instructor through Positive Futures. She choreographed the end routine and trained dancers from the different areas. "It has been absolutely crazy," reflects Keeley, who says her organisational skills were really put to the test.

Positive Futures is run by youth charity Catch22 and funded by the Home Office. Other Positive Futures events linked to the awareness week included a sports and arts festival in the south-west and a drug and alcohol-free party on the Mersey for more than 100 young Liverpudlians.

Keeley is among those who feel they owe a lot to the programme.

"When I was 15 or 16 I heard about a street dance session and went along with my sister and my cousin for an hour's session that I later found out was run by Positive Futures. We only paid £1," she recalls.

She went on to volunteer with younger dancers and got offered coaching work with Positive Futures and the chance to embark on a sports development apprenticeship, which she has nearly finished.

She also recently qualified as a street dance instructor on a YMCA fit course. "First and foremost, Positive Futures has given me opportunities. I have met some important people and had the opportunity to perform in places like Barcelona," says Keeley.

"It has given me employment and helped me focus on my future. When I finished A-levels, I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do and what career route to go down. Coaching was something I loved so when Hannah told me about the apprenticeship, I snapped it up. It has also given me confidence to work with other people and helped develop my coaching skills."

She was pleased to be part of the event as she has known friends and family who have been caught up in drug-taking: "I have seen what happens first-hand and the impact it can have on young people and families."

Wacky Forum Spring Prom

Aim: To give young people from special schools the chance to experience a lavish prom night

Funding: £5,000 from Warwickshire's youth opportunity fund

Young people from special schools across Warwickshire experienced all the glamour of a showbiz party at a prom night planned by their peers.

Pupils arrived at the event in limousines and hummers and walked down a black carpet to a venue decked with balloons. The event at the Alan Higgs Centre in Coventry was dreamt up by members of the Wacky Forum, a group of 14 young people from special schools in the county.

They chose everything right down to the classy black and gold colour scheme. The forum is run by New Ideas Advocacy, which is managed by Warwickshire Community and Voluntary Action. The forum is funded by Warwickshire County Council's integrated disability service.

Members meet once a month and apply for funding for one-off projects to benefit other disabled young people in the area.

The prom was a huge success, says 18-year-old forum member Alistair Mawson. "It was like being at the Oscars with the black and gold theme. There was great food, room to dance - everything was brilliant," he says.

It was hard work planning the event but it went well so he'd definitely like to see another one next year. "Normal schools have proms so why can't we have one? A disability isn't a problem, it's just a bump in the road," he says.

There was great feedback from other party-goers, who all had professional photos taken of them in their gladrags. The event also featured a sit-down buffet meal and non-alcoholic cocktails, plus a stunning cupcake tower.

"It was fun," says fellow forum member and Exhall Grange student Natasha Mir, 17. "Some of the young people don't do this sort of thing and it gave them a chance to get out and have a good time."

"It was a lot of sorting out but seeing their faces made it all worth it," says forum facilitator Emma Dean. "One young person said it made them feel special - just that one comment is amazing. It was wonderful and they all had the best time."

The young people had gained a youth opportunity fund grant for the event but many of the finishing touches were made possible by the generosity of local businesses.

The forum helps lift young people's self-esteem and is aimed at pupils who may need a boost in that area. The 14- to 19-year-olds have their say on issues that affect them from leisure activities to transport and feed back information to their schools.

KNOW MORE

Aim: To raise awareness of support services for young people and families

Funding: £19,000 from partners including Young Addaction Liverpool, Sure Start and the Liverpool Drug and Alcohol Action Team

Young performers drew hundreds of people to an event to raise awareness of services for those struggling with drugs or alcohol.

Music, dance, rap, drama and poetry attracted crowds to Williamson Square in the city centre, where people could browse stalls offering help.

The event, on 29 May, was staged in the run-up to National Tackling Drugs Week and was a major success, says John Gardner, Healthy Schools' drugs and alcohol co-ordinator for Liverpool.

"People came in their thousands," he says. "Because there was dance and singing on the stage, they stuck around. It may not be that people ring services right now but they know services are there if they need them." Another attraction was basketball team the Mersey Tigers, who showed off their skills and gave training tips.

Performance poet Terence Whinnett, 18, was one of the acts on stage. "It was phenomenal as far as engaging with young people goes," he says. "These events are the kind of thing that get Addaction and other organisations out there."

He was previously involved in substance misuse, which he says "was detrimental to what I was and what I wanted to do as a person".

Terence benefited from one-to-one counselling through Addaction and helped shape services as part of its Voices group.

He's set to become an ambassador for the charity and is also in the process of setting up a company to act as the "missing link" between services and young people.

"This event was successful in helping showcase services," he says. "We need 20 more like it each year."

DORSET'S PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE

Aim: To boost young people's self-awareness

Funding: Each course costs about £1,050

Getting a job isn't just about qualifications. Young people also need personal and social skills.

Sixteen- to 19-year-olds on the Entry to Employment (e2e) programme at Kingston Maurward Agricultural College in Dorset benefit from a six-week course run by Dorset youth and community service's social inclusion project.

It helps boost confidence and self-esteem, explains social inclusion worker Rachel Fisher. "It's about getting them to look at where they are now, where they want to be and the things that are holding them back," she says.

Fisher and fellow social inclusion worker Michael Ryan work with around eight participants. Courses are tailored to students' needs and interests. "There might be a need for drugs education with a group or it might be more about sex and relationships," says Fisher.

Activities range from problem-solving exercises and cooking to adventure sports. "Quite often we'll do stuff you could do in a classroom like arts and crafts but take them out to a forest and do it there," says Fisher.

She takes pride in seeing young people blossom. "A lot of young people on the course are so withdrawn and would rather sit in a corner but this brings them out of themselves," she says. "Many go from not saying a thing to being the noisiest people in the world. We listen to them and a lot of the time young people don't feel like they're listened to."

Participants tend at first to be sceptical but are surprised how enjoyable the course is, she adds.

POSITIVE FUTURES DANCE EVENT

Aim: To give young dancers a showcase and raise awareness of drugs issues

Funding: A share of £13,000 from the Home Office

Dance group Diversity may have scooped the crown in Britain's Got Talent but they're not the only ones who can use dance to inspire others.

Performers from Positive Futures projects in London and the south-east took over Leicester Square Gardens one day last month for a dance event linked to National Tackling Drugs Week.

Children's minister Baroness Morgan was among those watching when dancers and free-runners from Basildon, Sutton, Watford and Westminster performed routines before joining forces for a grande finale.

"It was a really nice informal event, and the kids were just really excited to be performing in Leicester Square," says Hannah Trickey, Positive Futures co-ordinator for Sutton. "It really did attract the crowds and the theme of the day came through."

Project workers and volunteers helped raise awareness of drugs issues by handing out information and performers talked about the positive impact of dance.

The dance extravaganza was co-ordinated by 20-year-old Keeley Wilcox, who recently qualified as a dance instructor through Positive Futures. She choreographed the end routine and trained dancers from the different areas. "It has been absolutely crazy," reflects Keeley, who says her organisational skills were really put to the test.

Positive Futures is run by youth charity Catch22 and funded by the Home Office. Other Positive Futures events linked to the awareness week included a sports and arts festival in the south-west and a drug and alcohol-free party on the Mersey for more than 100 young Liverpudlians.

Keeley is among those who feel they owe a lot to the programme.

"When I was 15 or 16 I heard about a street dance session and went along with my sister and my cousin for an hour's session that I later found out was run by Positive Futures. We only paid £1," she recalls.

She went on to volunteer with younger dancers and got offered coaching work with Positive Futures and the chance to embark on a sports development apprenticeship, which she has nearly finished.

She also recently qualified as a street dance instructor on a YMCA fit course. "First and foremost, Positive Futures has given me opportunities. I have met some important people and had the opportunity to perform in places like Barcelona," says Keeley.

"It has given me employment and helped me focus on my future. When I finished A-levels, I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do and what career route to go down. Coaching was something I loved so when Hannah told me about the apprenticeship, I snapped it up. It has also given me confidence to work with other people and helped develop my coaching skills."

She was pleased to be part of the event as she has known friends and family who have been caught up in drug-taking: "I have seen what happens first-hand and the impact it can have on young people and families."