Engaging Young People with Al-Ghazali

GTDT staff, while doing detached youth work, came across a group of young people who were disengaged. They were bored, demotivated with hanging around the streets every night with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

The Outreach Workers asked them what they would like to do.  The large group said they wanted to do Karate, as its active, fun, good for fitness and its an activity in which they could all get involved.

GTDT staff held a meeting at the Al- Ghazali with Sensei  Hisham Saif, 3^rd Dan, who is a 3-time World Champion and 3-time European Champion individually making him one of the most decorated KUGB competitors. Sensei Hisham is the instructor and has sessions 5 times a week.

The session was well received by the young people, throughout the session they learned some great techniques, team work and communication skills.

Sixteen young people joined the session. They were then invited to attend the youth sessions at the Al-Ghazali 3 times per week. The young people attend weekly sessions where they can meet other young people from the community in a safe and friendly environment.

Quote – Isham said they were “a lively bunch of young people, it was great to see so many attend.”

Lisa – “The young people were showing the GTDT Detached Workers all the new moves and telling them how great it was to work with Isham."

Youth Zone at Loving Lodge Lane

As part of our annual event Loving Lodge Lane, we are introducing a new area which is the Youth Zone!

The reason for the Youth Zone this year is because there was a meeting with the Princes Park youth consortium and we identified that there was a need for training and awareness for young people and families. In the meeting we discussed how the youth are important to us all and with us holding the annual event Loving Lodge Lane there was an opportunity for us to hold prevention workshops that will educate young people and their families on crime and consequences. There is a chance for essential skills to be learned by all.  There will be opportunities for the youth to participate in positive activities such as football, boxing and bike projects.

This area will be held on Tiber Square, Lodge Lane. It will be 3pm - 5:30pm with loads of great awareness raising activities.

There are some footwear restrictions for anybody wanting to be a part of the activities on the 3G pitch.

Let's Get Digital - working with Steve Biko Housing residents

As part of our Liverpool Adult Learning Service Community Learning programme we wanted to engage with local people to discover what learning they were interested in.  So during January 2019

we organised a number of learner voice sessions, one of which was with residents from Steve Biko Housing Association. Their resounding answer was that they would like to improve their digital skills. So we arranged a 6 week Digital Skills course to be held at Hector Peterson Court.

Our learners were all at different levels, but the main theme was building their confidence whilst using technology. This meant for some, learning to text on an ‘old skool’ phone and for others being confident ordering on ebay and searching online. 

It stretched us, having to work out how to text on a ‘non-smart’ phone and reminded us how much technology has advanced in the last 20 years. It also made us realise how scary it must be trying to keep up with the speed of developments as well, if you are not used to technology.

By the end of our six weeks all of our learners had made significant progress in their digital journey and they had achieved the learning goals that they set during week one of the course. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to watch them develop and grow in confidence using a variety of digital devices.

Audrey in particular stands out, as she started wanted to text on her non-smart phone and by the end of six weeks, now has a tablet and a laptop!

One of our learners commented that “This course was brilliant, as was the tutors. They spoke to me clearly so I understand and they had patience for me as well. Thank you.”

Bev from Steve Biko also said that “Our Tenants have progressed leaps and bounds and are really looking forward to moving on to their second course (starting soon). A big thanks to GTDT tutors, who have done a great job throughout the course!”

Walkabout with Mersey Forest

Yesterday GTDT received an email from Cllr. Paul Kenyon, one of the labour councillors for Picton, asking if we would go on a walkabout around the Picton ward with Steph from the Mersey Forest.

We met up with Steph who works on the Trees for Learning project run by Mersey Forest and we had a look at the land to the back of Picton Children's Centre.

We had some great ideas about how we could make the site more attractive with planting mature trees like cherry blossom and putting in a hedgerows.

We are now gearing up to do a community consultation on the 22 June from 11.00am - 1.00pm, so why not come along and have a chat with us and share your ideas with us of what you would like to see on the site.

Volunteers Week 2019

As part of Volunteers Week (1 - 7 June 2019) we will be joining over 50 other organisations for the Liverpool Volunteer Show at St. George's Hall tomorrow, Wednesday 5 June, 10am to 3pm.  Why not pop down and find out about some of the amazing volunteering opportunities available.