In 1991 Youth Initiatives opened it doors as a youth work to the young people of Poleglass without a pre-packed strategy or methodology. The initial 2 staff team had a wealth of experience in youth work and working together in a Christian community. Local community people in West Belfast helped to make it happen. Over the past 14 years this staff team has grown in number and strength reaching out to young people not only in Poleglass but Twinbrook, Lagmore and the wider Colin Area of West Belfast as well as Inner East Belfast.
Much of the early youth work centred around the use of drama giving the young people the opportunity and confidence to perform on stage in front of large audiences of family, friends, funders and strangers. Some of the early productions include
- Belfast Born
- Days Like This
- El Shaddai
- Patrick
This enthusiasm for drama has stayed with Youth Initiatives and has developed further using other areas of the creative arts through the Creative Crosslinks Programme. Creative Crosslinks has produced a number of live shows using the talents of the young people including dance, drama, singing, art and many more. Their productions have included
- Roots (2001)
- Rainbow Wars (2003)
- Tribal Gatherings (2004)
- One Night In My Shuz (2005)
- A Christmas Tale (2005)
Another tool that Youth Initiatives has used for youth work from the early days are residentials. The residentials have taken many forms over the years ranging from one – two nights, five day camps, and summer service in the USA for 3 months to Mission trips lasting 2 weeks. These kinds of residentials give young people the opportunity to get out of Belfast and experience living together in a Christian environment.
In the 14 years of Youth Initiatives, much has been achieved and many young people’s lives have been touched. This makes it a difficult task to write the History of Youth Initiatives, as so much has happened over years.
Below is a summary timeline that will take you through the years.
February 1991 |
YI comes into existence – West Belfast Youth Group transforms to become Youth Initiatives |
December 1992 |
Belfast Born debut
‘A revealing drama with a bit of cheek’ |
June 1993 |
‘The Source’ Youth Group
The Hub of YI’s Youth Projects meet weekly in the Dairy Farm Centre |
August 1993 |
Belfast / Pittsburgh exchange project |
September 1993 |
First Project Leadership Team Weekend
Omagh 17 th – 19 th Sept |
December 1993 |
First TEC Weekend In Northern Ireland
|
1994 |
Jamie leads the design and delivery of a new ‘Hot Pursuits’ inner city cross community team achievement game |
April 1994 |
Ten Sing go to Germany, Kronberg
‘Present a message of hope’
|
July 1995 |
First Fun Olympics
held at the Mary Peters Track |
1996 |
Youth Initiatives establish a new
Project Centre, Cloona House, Poleglass
The old swimming pool becomes the centre of YI youth work operations |
August 1996 |
First YI Girls International Trip
10 girls, 12 Days; Petrosani, Romania |
November 1996 |
“Days Like This” debut
Balmoral Conference Centre |
July 1998 |
West Fest Summer Camp, Galway
The main speaker was Fr Stan Fortuna |
September 1998 |
After 10 years in Belfast Ed Conlin returns to the USA, |
September 1998 |
12-14’s Project Begins
Youth Initiatives starts a programme for 12-14 year olds
(a.k.a. Young’uns, APL, NUTS) |
July 1999 |
YI Hits the Road
Mexico , Detroit, Brussels, England and Dublin service project destinations for many YI young people |
October 1999 |
Creative Crosslinks Project Launched
YI join with East Belfast Oasis, Caring in Action
to begin a Community Relations Project |
2000 |
5 Year Strategic Plan – with PLM Consulting |
April 2001 |
“Roots” a YI 10 Year Celebration & Jamie farewell
Faces from the past and the present meet together to celebrate the work of YI |
July & August 2001 |
Kick Start
with Fr Stan Fortuna in West Belfast
The BIG Event
international service and mission in Belfast |
September 2001 |
Staff Move On
Jamie Treadwell Co-founder of YI moved on to take up his new post as Youth Director for Europe and Middle East Sword of the Spirit youth programmes
Mike Shaughnessy takes on the role of interim director |
March 2002 |
Graduate Reunion
YI hosted a night for young people from the past to catch up and find out what YI is doing at the moment |
April 2003 |
Rainbow Wars
CCL perform their 3 rd Annual Show at The Old Museum Arts Centre to a full house both nights |
July 2003 |
Millisle Once More
Lifeline 2 was the name of the camp and the evening entertainment was not to be missed |
Summer 2003 |
The reign of Doug Smith commences
(formally Business Manager since 1992) |
September 2003 |
SPY (Schools Partnering Youth Work)
3 YI youthworkers started to deliver the SPY project for two classes of 4 th and 5 th years (14-16 year olds) in lower academic classes in St Colm’s High School, Twinbrook |
July 2004 |
Girls Service Trip
10 young women and 3 staff travelled to the Bronx, NY at St Francis Youth Centre for 2 weeks
Boys Service Trip
9 young men and 3 staff travelled to St Paul, Minnesota for 2 weeks of inner city service project |
October 2004 |
Target Project Launched
A new project for young men to focus on mental health, character development and external behaviour |
August 2005 |
Crazy Summer
Camp Revelation , Summer Schemes, Chunky Munky Camp, Fun Olympics, West Belfast Festival, Die Konference and World Youth Day Germany kept staff, volunteers and young people very busy |
November 2005 |
An Taoiseach (Bertie Ahern) visited the YI Centre in Poleglass as guest of Pat Colgan, Chief Executive of EU Peace Programme. They interviewed YI young people and watched a Creative Crosslinks song and dance performance |
January 2006 |
White Park Bay , Ballintoy was the venue for the 28 th Volunteers Training Residential (a.k.a. PLT or Service Team) |
1991-2006 |
Partnership Growth over the years includes…
YWAM, Emmaus; Dublin, St Colm’s High School, local community groups and forums, Habitat for Humanity, Cast, YouthNet, parishes, Rank Foundation, SOS Gap Programme |
These are some of the highlights from the past 14 years of Youth Initiatives. If you have any that you think we have missed please feel free to e-mail them to us and we will add them as soon as we can. If there are any errors in here, please let us know.
If you are a real YI groupie and you want the much longer version of our history please e-mail us and we’d love to clog up all the memory space on your hard drive with it!!!
|
" The Roots Event represented, for me, the core of good work that Youth Initiatives has done so far in Ireland. We saw lots of young people gathered together who have been brought to Christ, or encouraged to stick with Him, in spite of peer group pressure"
Retired Rev. James E. Moore, Bishop of Connor (C. of I.) |
