On Monday 16th April 2012 we were joined by Chief Executive Mike Hughes of the charity based organisation Twenty Twenty. He popped in to give us an insight into what the organisation is about and how we can get involved.
Twenty Twenty is a youth charity that has been running for five years. Its main office is in Loughborough but working around the Leicestershire County. It is a learning provider working with disengaged young people who are secondary school age and who are excluded from school, about to be excluded at crisis point in education or who have left school and who are not in training or haven't got a job so we work with that of young people and help them to really engage with education and help them to build the confidence and the skills necessary to move on to find apprenticeships, training and jobs etc.
How long has this project in running for?
Since around 2007, it has just grown and grown. We work with 350 young people a year and that number is on the way up.
How do you get young people on your scheme?
At school age (pre-16) schools will refer young people to us. They might refer young people to us in groups or for one to one sessions. Sometimes young people can be with us for just a term and sometimes they can be with us for a whole school year. It depends on the individual circumstances. If we deal with particular behaviour problems it may take longer to deal with.
At post-16 (young people who have left school) when they come to our learning provision, we are a full time learning provider for them so we do things like vocational training, personal/social development and things like functional skills i.e. Literacy and numeracy skills so they can get qualifications.
One of the other projects that we run is a mentoring scheme. That is where young people who particularly need extra support will get paired with a volunteer from the community that we have trained who will spend an hour a week with them over the course of a year. That volunteer will help the young person to set goals for their education and their personal development. That program is very successful and is expanding across the county. Young people that may lack an adult role model in their life.
We receive them from schools, colleges and self referrals, young people can self refer also. We can also be contacted by other youth agencies such as the police, social services and other learning providers who do similar work as ourselves in other areas of Leicester. We have a very diverse referral network.
Are you based in Loughborough?
Our main life skill centres are in Loughborough but we're now working in every borough in the county of Leicestershire. Although we are not yet in the city boroughs, we are in the seven district boroughs around. We have been commissioned to move into all of those areas. We are hoping in the future to work in the city area.
What areas are you training mentors for?
Mentoring is a professional friendship. If you were to join our scheme, you would then be initially trained for about six weeks. You would be paired with a young person and you would then offer that young person help, guidance and advice to help them set goals for they're future. Mentors are fully supported throughout the year. There is always a mentor coordinator available and there are various training events to help with building mentor skills also.
If I wanted to become a volunteer what would I need to do?
The best thing to do is to get in touch with us, speak to one of our mentoring scheme coordinators and then you can find out about training in your area and ask any questions that you might have.