Fields in Trust has partnered with green space charity Groundwork and The National Youth Agency to on the 'Future Proof Parks', programme funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

The project is supporting Friends of parks groups and local young people to work together in a series of innovative projects which will support heritage parks and widen the understanding of their importance. The aim is to encourage young people to join their local friends of park groups and volunteer to preserve and celebrate the local spaces that matter to the communities they live in.

The three-year programme has been awarded funding through the National Lottery Heritage Fund's Kick the Dust programme, which aims to enable more young people to be involved in the UK's heritage.

  

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Introduction to Young People'e Participation Training

  

Throughout the pandemic a visit to the park has been so important - a chance to get out into nature, exercise, breathe and rebalance during a difficult year. We are all thankful to the volunteers who helped maintain our parks and now, coming out of lockdown, we can all play our part to make sure local green spaces will remain a healthy part of the local environment.

Local parks have been vital over the last year, we must make sure they will always be there for the whole community and for future generations - helping to restore the natural world and providing safe places to meet friends and neighbours.

The Future Proof Parks project is offering free training to Friends of Parks Groups and community organisations to help you work with young people – building the next generation of green space volunteers and handing-on the care of our much-loved community parks to future leaders. Led by specialists from the National Youth Agency, the online training will look at the principles and practicalities of young people’s participation in green space volunteering. Ensuring volunteers represent the whole community is vital to long term success.

We are also offering free Train the Trainer for Groundwork practitioners already working with young people. This training is designed so they can in turn train volunteers with the skills and knowledge to support young people’s participation and safeguarding.

If you are a Friends of Parks Group member or part of a community organisation who want to include young people, this would be the ideal first step on your journey. 

Download the flyers for the Friends of Parks Group training or the Train the Trainer sessions for dates and booking information or contact Laura Keegan on Laurak@nya.org.uk for more information.

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If you would like to keep in touch with the work of the Future Proof Parks programme please complete the form below and we will send you quarterly email updates about individual projects and the resources available to the wider Friends of Parks groups:

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Select your location East East Midlands Greater London North East North West Northern Ireland Scotland South East South West Yorkshire and Humber Wales West Midlands Not in the UK

 

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