We Find Out About the Work of NE Youth as it Celebrates 90 Years
Living North's chosen charity for this year's Living North LIVE Fair is NE Youth
Jon Niblo has spent more than three decades working in the youth and community sector, following a brief career in professional football. For 16 years he has been the proud CEO of NE Youth. A leading youth development charity, NE Youth makes a positive difference to the lives of young people. Starting out in 1935 as The Northumberland Association of Boys Clubs, the organisation has changed and evolved over the course of 90 years.
‘For 80 years (based in Newcastle) the organisation operated in the old Northumberland area (North of Tyne), however, following the most recent rebrand to NE Youth our offer is now covering the 12 local authority areas,’ Jon says. ‘In the 1960s, on the back of The Albemarle Report, the organisation played a key role in securing new investment to build new facilities in the region.’
Today, the charity offers direct open access youth provision in local communities, and over the last nine decades it has worked with more than one million young people across the region. ‘NE Youth continues to support its diverse membership network of more than 200 organisations that work with young people, and delivers its own direct youth work programmes with young people,’ Jon adds. ‘So far this financial year (ending 31st March), the organisation has worked with more than 6,000 individual young people. Over the recent five-year period we have worked collaboratively with Youth Focus North East to create the North East Youth Alliance (NEYA), which has strengthened our offer of support for the wider youth sector.’
Jon explains why this support is so important in our region. ‘The North East has faced disproportionate cuts in youth service investment for a sustained period of over 10 years,’ he says. ‘This has had a devastating impact on the youth sector and all but three local authorities in the North East have a youth service. Many voluntary organisations have also closed, resulting in a huge lack of provision for young people. The NEYA carried out a recent survey which highlighted some very concerning statistics: 110 organisations completed the survey, 39 percent do not have secure budgets this financial year, 67 percent are forecasting a financial shortfall next financial year, 56 percent are envisaging that they will have to close or reduce their services in the next financial year, 47 percent are envisaging they will have to reduce their staff teams over the next financial year, and 26 percent hold no reserves.’
As with all local charities, fundraising and raising awareness is key to supporting NE Youth. Visitors to Living North LIVE at Newcastle Racecourse can learn more about NE Youth’s work and how to support the charity by taking the opportunity to hear first-hand experiences from staff and young people, their current work and future plans. ‘There will be opportunities to sign up for events and activities including volunteering,’ says Jon. ‘This opportunity to collaborate with Living North is fantastic for us,’ he continues. ‘We are always looking to connect with new individuals and businesses that may wish to support our work.’
Having recently celebrated International Women’s Day with their annual International Women’s Supper Club, Jon and the team are proud of what NE Youth has achieved so far and he has positive hopes for the charity’s future. ‘Our hope is very much linked to continuing to meet the needs and aspirations of as many young people as possible for as long as possible,’ he says. ‘Reaching 90 years is unbelievable but there is so much more we want to achieve for many more years to come.’
