Edinburgh Teens Advocate for Local Charity in Youth Philanthropy Initiative
Four pupils from James Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh are raising awareness of the challenges young carers face and calling for more volunteers to support Edinburgh’s charity sector. As part of the Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI)- a national program that empowers students to research and advocate for local charities. Bernard Hinchliffe-Drumm, Jacob Barenblat, Theo Naumov, and Oscar Muir are S4 students who want to stand out from the other YPI teams and do something which actually makes a difference.
Both Bernard and Jacob are young carers, so the group have taken an interest in the award-nominated charity, Space @ The Broomhouse Hub, where they visited the charity to learn more about their work. They run group sessions with young carers giving a chance for young people to relax and make friends, as well as working closely with schools across the Southwest of the city. Many young people may not even realise they are young carers, but according to Edinburgh Young Carers “A young carer is somebody who cares for or is affected by someone else at home – usually a parent or sibling – who suffers from physical or mental ill health, or who has substance misuse issues.” Space is working to reach hidden carers and get them the help they need.
Young Carers Manager at Space, Kerry Smith said:
“We support around 200 young carers aged 5 to 16 and aside from a respite break every two weeks, alongside a hot meal (and you would be surprised how needed that is) one of the biggest things we do is gather young carers statements, working with the young person to map out their hopes and aspirations. We then work with them and their schools to make that happen.”
In addition to supporting young carers, Space offers many other community projects such as the Beacon club- supporting older people with dementia, ESOL support groups as well as trauma counselling and connecting youth with employers. Without Space, sadly, there is not really any other hub like it in Broomhouse, which helps so many people- and without the amazing volunteers it would not exist, they rely on donations to do the work they do.
The YPI program, introduced to Scotland in 2008, aims to give youth a chance to drive their own change by forming teams, doing research and presenting in front of a panel who will decide on the most dedicated group to give a grant of £3000 for their chosen charity. They have helped over 390,000 students engage with charities in their local area- who previously may never have done so. The team from Gillespie’s are hoping to make a difference by winning this for Space so they can give young carers chances which they may not otherwise have.