Teens to discover joys of being Young and Free in Westport

Teens to discover joys of being Young and Free in Westport

‘Young Free in Westport’ is an exciting new four-week youth programme being held in Westport this summer. Participating 13 to 15 year olds will discover smart ways to have a great time in the town – and then they’ll spread the world.
The programme has a strong emphasis on social media. The teens will ‘Like’ ‘Share’ and ‘Comment’ about their discoveries in a massive social media campaign. They’ll use Facebook to promote the Westport sevices, activities and facilities that they review. Where the management of these local businesses offer to sponsor or provide other resource support for the programme, ‘Young Free in Westport’ can further promote their business.
The teens involved will not only have the craic generating a massive following on their Facebook page using pictures, video, and social media events, they’ll also use easily available, safe or public transport to get around, using existing community youth resources  bases. The idea is to get out and see just how many fun and healthy things there are for young teens in the town.
Through their reviews, they will also check, improve and approve facilities, services and activities on offer. The teens will also offer an ‘inclusion proofing’ service for the various activities, services and businesses, so that those running them can learn how to make their offerings open to all teenagers, regardless of their abilities.
The programme is not just good for business and tourism, it’s also good for the teens themselves: They will have access to local professional expertise to help them learn about making safe use of social media, making better everyday mental-health decisions, making  places accessible to all young people and making best use of the personal resources they have available to them. A trained youth programme worker will oversee the running of the initiative, with the help of programme leader assistants.
The Young Free programme is a Clan Beo ‘living community’ initiative is made possible by the support of the Family Resource Centre, The Cove Youth Café, Foróige, DFI, Westport Town Council, Westport Radio, the young people of Westport, their families and the businesses of the town.
Clan Beo helps adults, young people and their families who want to play an active part in their community and who have some additional support needs arising from an impairment.  

•    For more information on the Young Free programme, which costs €20 per week, or to apply for any of programme leader/programme leader assistant roles (closing date May 9), visit www.clanbeo.org, email connect@clanbeo.org or call 086 6036900.