yipworld.com was established in April 2000 after a period of six months' research and development for funding for an Internet Cafe/Youth Initiative for the Cumnock and surrounding coalfields communities (South of East Ayrshire) through the Scottish Executive Social Inclusion Partnership Fund. This money had been secured by East Ayrshire Council Social Work department which established a specific Social Inclusion Partnership department.

The core activities which are funded by the East Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership is to provide a drop-in service during evenings and weekends for young people aged 8 - 25 years. There are no specific criteria for young people attending other than that they are aged as above and live in the geographical areas as mentioned above. However, it should be noted that many young people come from socially deprived backgrounds due to the level of high unemployment and minimum wage employment within the coalfields communities. There is a tendency for the residents of these communities to have low confidence and self-esteem and lack dreams and aspirations to achieve personal and social development which would enhance their future prospects.

The ethos of yipworld.com is to provide a safe, warm environment in which young people can participate in a range of formal and informal activities that will contribute to their personal, social and educational development.

Activities provided (for core funding) are as follows:

Free membership
Free use of computers and internet access as well as recreational software
Pool tables and arts and crafts
Drama and music including D.J. training
Outdoor activities including snowboarding and mountain biking - provided by qualified instructors
Trips and visits to areas of interest e.g. the Police Museum/Science Centre or recreational interest e.g. other youth groups, concerts etc.
Active citizenship and positive manners
The provision of information and advice in relation to further education and employment including mock interviews, assistance with completion of application forms etc.
Health information including sexual health

The opening hours for the drop-in are as follows:-

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings 6.30p.m. - 9.30p.m. for senior age group which are young people attending Secondary school up to approximately 17 years of age.

Saturday afternoon 12.30-4.30p.m. for young people attending Primary 4, 5, 6 and 7.

The young adult group consists of aged 18 - 25 years, particularly those who have been disenfranchised from education and employment due to lack of interest in school. We work in partnership with organisations to assist with the delivery of information and advice on employment issues. We also have Government Initiatives such as New Deal Employment where we provide excellent training and personal development to assist these young people to achieve new skills and learning which can enhance their employability prospects.

Management

The Project is managed by a Voluntary Board of Directors who meets on a six weekly basis to discuss the progress of the Project and receive a written or verbal report from the Project Manager and Development Director. The Board discuss any possible issues that may have arisen and approve application for specific grants and funds that the Development Director is considering for application. The Board of Directors has a professional representation from various business people, parents, partner organisations and members.

The Development Director is responsible for the overall management and sustainability of the Project, accessing grants and funding, events co-ordination, networking and marketing and future development of the Project services.

The day to day operational management of the Project is the responsibility of the Project Manager. This includes management of staff, co-ordination of operational activity, consultation with parents and customers, day to day health and safety including risk assessment, fire procedures and ensuring the smooth and efficient function of all services.

Project Workers are responsible for the provision of care and activities programmes for all young people, they work irregular hours during evenings and weekends although their salary includes a 7.5% unsociable hours payment. The staff are either working towards or have achieved an SVQ in Playwork levels 2 or 3 which is a legislative requirement as stated in the Scottish Regulation of Care Act (2001) by the Care Commission. The drop-in service is not affected by this legislation, although all staff have an input to the after school care/school holiday care therefore they are affected by this. There will also be a Scottish Social Services Network which will require all staff to be registered with them to deem them fit to work with children and young people.

Staff dedicated to the after school service and school holiday service are also required to achieve Playwork Level 2 or 3 qualifications, but they do not receive the same payment as Project workers as they do not work irregular or unsociable hours.

Other Services

After School Service

The Dropzone - regulated by the Care Commission - the after school service/school holiday service - operates on a daily basis Monday to Friday from 3p.m. until 6p.m. for young people aged 8 - 14 years. There is a charge of £2.00 per day per child for this which includes a snack. The school holiday Dropzone operates on throughout school holidays except for a two week period at Christmas and New Year when the Project closes. The cost for full day is £11.00 per child or £6.00 for a half day. Siblings are charged at £10.00 per day.

Outreach and Detached Streetwork

We are keen to provide equal opportunities to all children and young people within the geographical areas, and therefore provide outreach services in community halls and in partnership with other groups. This is normally two part-time members of staff with the Outreach worker planning and co-ordinating this activity.
Detached Street Work is also provided by two members of staff. Basically, this means that staff visit young people in their own social environment i.e. outside shops, parks etc. and build a positive relationship with them with the long term goal of encouraging them to participate in activities that deters them from anti social behaviour. This is a very important element of the work that yipworld.com provides, it is immeasurable and invaluable particularly with regard to the safety and wellbeing of young people from socially excluded backgrounds. We work in partnership with the local Community Police Officers when we have a concern about the welfare of a young person.

Global Training @ yipworld.com

Sustainability of the yipworld.com project has been on the agenda since the year 2000, and although it would be unrealistic to expect the core services to be fully sustainable without funding, it is important that we aim to income generate to ensure that we do not make excessive demands on the core funding for increase costs i.e. utilities and staff incremental annual costs for wages etc.

The Project is accredited by the Scottish Qualifications Authority for SVQ training in five different Standards: Playwork, Early Years Care and Education, Customer Service, Youth Work and Administration. We have two assessors and one Internal Verifier which means that we can provide, assess and endorse training that any member of staff or volunteer registers for. We can also be sub-contracted by other organisations to provide assessment and observation of their candidates.

We also have British Computer Society accreditation to provide online learning in the European Computer Driving License. This is being accessed by Government Initiatives like New Deal where we place young people for 13 week blocks for work experience and personal development.

Our latest achievement is Learn Direct Branding. We have managed to secure funding to employ a dedicated member of staff to market and co-ordinate Learn Direct opportunities to 18 plus within the geographical areas.

Awards and Benchmark Quality Indicators

The Project was awarded Investor in People Status in 2003, and was recently re-accredited in August 2005. We were one of the first Youth Initiatives in Scotland to have this benchmark quality indicator.

We achieved the Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire Business in the Community Award in 2003, and reached the final of the Enterprising Scotland Award for the same year. We reached the final of the same Award in 2008.

We were winners of the 2007 Learn Direct Scottish Award for Ensuring Sustainability.

We achieved "Runner Up" status in the Social Economy Scotland Raising the Profile Award in 2007.

We hold the Bronze Award for Business in the Community through the Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce, and reached the final of the Association of Business Women Most Enterprising Business.

The T.A.R.D.I.S. Initiative

This is our most recent innovative resource - a mobile internet van which houses 4mg broadband via satellite to laptops within a high specification training area. The TARDIS has three elements - a. for young people during outreach work in various communities - b. as an income generation for hire to organisations for the purpose of marketing and advertising and - c. to provide online learning opportunities to people living in rural communities or those who are deemed most vulnerable in society.

This is one of our most successful initiatives and one that is proving very popular with the rurally isolated young people of the South of East Ayrshire. We provide shift reports at the end of each visit and they are a joy to read. The young people embrace the facility and utilise it to its full potential. The van has been on the road for more than a year, and originally we had a lot of negative comments about it being vandalised or misused, but to date we are proud that it is as good as new. Given that the van visits some areas which are noted as being particularly severe with regard to vandalism and lack of respect, we are very proud of the young people that use the van and proud of the staff that work closely with these young people to provide them a youth work service.

SEAM Media UK

This is our newest project. SEAM Media UK is another social enterprise company within yipworld.com. This service provides graphic design; web design; filming and photography and a recording studio. The post of full time Digital Media Project Worker will be the co-ordinator of targeting young people from yipworld.com to be involved in the opportunities available within yipworld.com. This worker will also identify groups of young people through our partnership agencies i.e. Kilmarnock and Ayr College; Princes Trust Volunteers; East Ayrshire Strategy for Youth and local secondary schools to identify young people classified as the N.E.E.T.group. (Not in Education, Employment or Training). This worker will be the link member of staff for Glaisnock House, yipworld.com and SEAM Media UK.