The projects currently funded by Wigan Children’s Fund are:
Youth Inclusion Support Panels (YISP), incorporating Parenting and Family Group Meetings
Youth Inclusion Support Panels
Youth Inclusion and Support Panels (YISPs) seeks to prevent offending and anti-social behaviour by offering voluntary support services to high-risk 8-13 year olds and their families. The main emphasis of the project is to ensure that children and their families receive, at the earliest opportunity, mainstream public services, together with complementary interventions from voluntary and community groups.
Family Group Meetings
Family Group Meetings are a planning/decision-making process, which help families find solutions to their own problems within a professionally supportive framework. They can be used in a variety of situations where young people are facing difficulties, and simpler solutions such as single agency working have failed to resolve the difficulties.
Parenting
Wigan YISP Parenting Project delivers parenting support and advice to the parents and carers of young people known to the Youth Inclusion and Support Project.
L & L Superstars
Local voluntary community dance group giving children and young people the opportunity to increase their leisure opportunities by learning new dance routines, entering talent competitions and performing in shows. Providing a fun and an equal opportunities environment, the service is delivered twice per week by two qualified dance teachers. The group is now a member of the Dance Federation, which gives children and young people the opportunity to enter medal tests and achieve grading status.
CVS (Wigan and Leigh Council for Voluntary Service)
The C&YP group’s development workers are funded by Wigan Children’s Fund and SureStart and aim to provide advice, information and support to all local voluntary & community groups working with children and young people.
Whether you are a new or well established group, large or small, the C&YP group at CVS can provide information and support on issues such as:
- Setting up your management committee and structure
- Planning for the future
- Roles and responsibilities of committee members
- Producing a constitution that sets out how your group is run
- Becoming a registered charity
- Funding information & resources
- Developing your policies & procedures
- training opportunities
- Involving & managing volunteers and much more.
Mental Health Project
A partnership between Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service, Children & Young People’s Services, Wigan Children’s Fund and CVS, this project entails a worker from CAMHS working one to one with young carers whose parents have enduring mental health problems or drug and alcohol misuse issues.
Additionally, the project involves the setting up of groups in each of the three inclusion areas for young carers whose parents have enduring mental health problems.
Advocacy Project
A partnership between Wigan CYPS, Wigan Children’s Fund and Wigan Churches Association for Family Welfare, whereby Wigan Churches Association for Family Welfare offer an independent advocacy service to young people who are in public care.
Volunteers and Volunteer Drivers
Volunteers are recruited, trained and supported by Wigan Children’s Fund to provide a volunteer driving scheme to Resource Centres, Contact Service, Complex Needs, Permanence & Adoption, Youth Offending Team, Drug & Alcohol Team and other services.
We are currently working in partnership with Extended Schools. Volunteers who wish to help out in classrooms are given this opportunity. The volunteers are also able to work around their own commitments and within school hours if they have children of their own.
Volunteers are also helping out at the Breakfast and After School Clubs due to the volunteers already having undertaken a full training programme with the Children’s Fund, covering areas such as Safeguarding, Equality and Diversity, Health & Safety and Direct Work to name just a few of the courses.
The goal for the future is for the volunteers to work towards teaching assistant status with support from the school if they so wish.
Carers’ Grant
Wigan Children’s Fund manages the children and young people’s element of the Carers’ Grant.
CYPS Temporary Register
Wigan Children’s Fund manages the children and young people’s aspect of the temporary work register.
