Youth Services

Youth Services

What are we about? The youth service in Belfast seeks to work with young people to facilitate their personal, social and educational development. We will also work to enable young people to gain a voice, influence and place in society in a period of their transition from dependence to interdependence.

How do we do it? We have approximately sixty full time staff and two hundred part time paid and voluntary staff working for the benefit of young people in the city. We also have over three hundred registered groups.

What's the board's responsibility in relation to youth services?

The Belfast Education and Library Board is charged under Article 37 of the Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986 to secure the provision of adequate facilities for youth service activities.

What do we provide? In Belfast we work directly with young people who attend the many youth centres and provide financial assistance and support to those centres. We also have seven area projects, which work, in communities across the city.

Each year we provide a range of training opportunities for adults involved in youth work (See training) and courses for young people on issues such as personal development, communication skills, leadership training, drug education and community relations.

We also encourage community relations as part of our work and provide support through the Youth Service Community Relations Support Scheme
The youth service has an outdoor education residential centre at Drumalla in Killyleagh County Down and provides a range of outdoor activities ( Outdoor Education )