Youth and Community Work: Contemporary Issues and Practice Report

This report examines youth and community work, addressing key legislations, roles, and responsibilities within the field. It explores how community workers and youth enable young people's development and contributions to society, alongside local community initiatives and their positive outcomes. The report details the responsibilities of various community workers and youth, including their roles within multi-disciplinary teams, and highlights the value of a multi-disciplinary approach. Furthermore, it delves into critical issues of inequality and their impact on youth development and well-being, providing a comprehensive overview of the subject matter.

Youth and Community Work

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Key legislations related to youth and community work practice and development...............3
P2 How community workers and youth enable young people to develop themselves and make
contributions to the society..........................................................................................................4
P3 How local community initiative can utilise youth and community work to positive
outcomes......................................................................................................................................5
P4 Responsibilities of different community workers and youth..................................................6
P5 Responsibilities of workers and youth in multi-disciplinary teams........................................6
P6 Value of multi-disciplinary approach.....................................................................................7
P7 Key issues of inequality and its impact..................................................................................8
P8 Impact of issues on the development and well-being.............................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Community work can be defined as a process of mobilising the communities for using
their own resources and structures for addressing their own problems in order to achieve their
own objectives. The main focus of community work is to focus on participations and foster
emancipation, empowerment and make a change in the society through collective action.
Community work practice is also referred as branch of social work which focuses on the larger
social systems as well as the social change. Preset report discusses about the various approaches
of the youth and community work practices and what are the key legislation which is directly
relevant to youth and community work practice as well community development. Also, it
includes roles and responsibilities of workers of youth and community development and role of
multi-disciplinary teams in enabling effective youth community work practices. Present report
also discusses about the impact of contemporary issues related to inequality in society.
LO1
P1 Key legislations related to youth and community work practice and development
Social work and the law is referred as an interference between the practice of legal
system and social work which also includes the statutory law, legal institutions and legal
professionals etc. There are various key legislation related to community and youth work
practice and development which are as follows -
Code of practices for social care workers and Code of practice for employers of social care
workers (2004)- In this code all practices of social workers are to be measured. They
encapsulate the professionalism which is to be expected from employers, regulators and for those
who are the user of services which can be anywhere. All the concern which may arise are to
addressed by the supervisor immediately.
Defining the electronic social care record (2003)- The electronic social care record (ESCR) is
helpful in bringing all relevant information for social care user at one place thus this can be used
for the further (Aimers and Walker,2016). The accurate recording is important for availing the
information to the people who are the user of service and thus by that they can improve their life
quality. It is the structured information which includes the national forms which are used for the
recording of children's information and the user of the service information.
Social care information governance (2010)- It can include Data Protection Act 1998 in it,
along with Freedom of Information Act 2000 are to be considered in this code of practice thus

this helpful for the service render individual which are accountable and responsible for how
information is to be used by the user of services. It supports the social care to provide high
quality care with the help of appropriate and effective use of information.
P2 How community workers and youth enable young people to develop themselves and make
contributions to the society
Community workers and youth can work collaboratively with young people which can
based on certain core principles and values which to enable youth to develop themselves and
they can make contributions towards the society. One of the best way is to respect young people
and try to identify the needs and interests of young people (Andersson and Alexander, 2016). If
community workers and youth have respect in their heart for young they will be able to
understand their needs and desires effectively. There are various ways to enable young people to
develop themselves and contributes to society some of the ways are mentioned below:
Voluntary participation: It involves allowing people to have a choice of participating or not
and in order to maximise the participation in order to develop them create a welcoming as well
as accessible environment (Baldwin, 2017). This will attract young people in the work and
develop themselves. Also, youth and community workers should make use of appropriate
resources and services which are capable of young people's development. Also, providing the
knowledge how valuable they are and how much contributions they can provide to community.
Youth and community workers should keep young people informed about the various
opportunities which can help in their development and hear them on the continuous basis.
Anti-oppression: It is important for youth and social workers to take various steps to minimise
the oppression that are faced by young people and try address their oppressive attitude, practices,
language, challenging ngative discrimination and structures. Social workers and youth should try
to respect the differences and try to build a bridge which can bring young people together and
can learn from each other which can be good for their development purposes. Also, try to find
and promote the positive role models and participations of the individuals or groups which are
facing societal oppression or have been excluded from the participation. Community workers
and youth should educate young people about the causes and effects of oppression and what can
be the implications of it on the life. This can also be an effective way of development and also
should make continuous consultation to young people and provide solutions to the problems they
face.

Confidentiality: The information which is gathered by youth and community workers should
not be disclosed with others and also they should recognise that young people may disclose
information to other which can affect their development process.
Continuous professional development: This is the best way for developing young people in
which youth and community workers can seek out the information as well as training about the
various perspectives which can improve their practices of helping young people, and they should
develop a clarity of roles and responsibilities to be carried out. This also involves responding to
feedback and minimising the shortcomings of the development plan.
LO 2
P3 How local community initiative can utilise youth and community work to positive outcomes
Local community can take various initiatives in using youth and community work for
achieving the positive outcomes some of the initiatives are mentioned below:
Supporting parents: Here community workers and youth can provide support to parents of
young people as if parents are not supported it will diminish the capacity of family to support
their children, So, community worker and youth can support the families by providing parent
education which can offer parents about the knowledge of care giving skills.
Mobilising neighbourhoods: It is another local community initiative where the aim of
community workers and youth is to strengthen the neighbourhoods which is based on the concept
that local residents of the society can invest themselves and their resources in order to support
young people which can surely bring the positive outcomes (Garrett, Spreitzer and Bacevice,
2017). It can include four mechanisms such as community organising and development,
collaboration within service delivery, involvement of families in school governance and
implementation of community based programs. Community and youth can adopt these strategies
to develop young people and get adults, adolescents, young people and residents involved in
supporting young people (Nicholson, Artz and Armitage, 2019). Community workers and youth
has work in collaboration with each other and with the residents of the society in supporting
young people in an effective manner.
Improving institutional services: Community workers and youth take various initiatives in
order to improve the health services like they can provide support financially by providing strong
incentives for services which is to be provided in various health settings like physician offices
and hospitals (Kandathil and Wagner, 2017). This initiative can surely bring positive outcomes

as it can result in an effective treatment to be provided to needy young people particularly the
children form low-income families. Community workers and youth can play an important role in
filling this gap by develop various school and community based centres.
P4 Responsibilities of different community workers and youth
There are various responsibilities of different community workers and youth while taking
various initiatives which are mentioned below:
Monitoring and counselling parents and young people: In order to support the families of young
people it is the responsibility of community workers and youth to monitor the families of young
people in order to provide support. They should keep track how parents are taking care of their
children and what are the factor which can support them in improving the care giving of parents
to their children (Loring, Gerlach and Penn, 2016). It is also the responsibility of youth and
community workers to offer counselling programs which will educate them and can provide
positive outcome.
Maintaining the records: In order to make the initiatives a success it is the responsibility of
community workers and youth to maintain proper records of young which require care. It is also
the responsibility to gather the family background information and maintain the confidentiality
of the data gathered.
Facilitating of workshops in community and schools: In order to develop and help young
people it is the responsibility of workers and youth to facilitate workshops in schools and
community settings which can prove beneficial for young people. This can also help in
improving various institutional services.
Writing and presenting reports: This is also one of the major responsibility of community
workers and youth to write reports on facts gathered and present reports to communities and
NHS. By doing so, it can surely help in achieving the objectives of community workers and
youth to help young people.
Funding: It is also the responsibility of community workers and youth to raise funds for carrying
out various initiatives and they have to formulate the strategies about the sources of funds that
can be used to used for various purposes to help young people.
P5 Responsibilities of workers and youth in multi-disciplinary teams
Multi-disciplinary team can be referred a group of health care and social workers who
form the members of different disciplines each of which provide specific services to society. One

of the most important multi-disciplinary team work in helping young people is to offer and
provide social care and health services through multi-agency working which can be offending,
mental health of community, community development, etc. There are various responsibilities of
community workers and youth in relation to supporting multi-disciplinary teams some of them
are mentioned below:
Models of professional practice: The professions which work with young people and children
there may be a wide range of diverse models of practice and knowledge. This may give rise to
some tensions which may arise between different explanatory models for example social and
medical models (Naidoo, Zygmont and Philips, 2017). It is the responsibility of community
workers and youth to manage the differences while working with other professionals and also
have the responsibility of managing the issues which may arise in multi-disciplinary teams.
Status and power: It is the also the responsibility of community workers and youth to minimise
the issues and dilemmas which may arise during the distribution of status and power among
various professionals. If this issue may arise but it is the responsibility of community workers
and youth to minimise the impact of these issues on their practices and decisions.
Confidentiality and information sharing: There may also arise an issue of information sharing
within multi-disciplinary team may pose a challenge to which community workers and youth can
become agents of sharing accurate and required information among team and maintaining the
confidentiality of young people in which workers and young people plan an important role
(Shuman, Baron and Wasserman, 2019). They can help in developing a protocols about the
sharing of information.
P6 Value of multi-disciplinary approach
Multi-disciplinary approach refers to drawing of multiple disciplines in order to redefine
the various problems which are outside the normal reach and boundaries and to provide a
solution on the basis of understanding the complex situations. Multi-disciplinary approach can be
be of real value for youth and community which can help in achieving the goals of helping
young people. As it can offer a value of discussing various challenges or problems which are
faced in helping young people and it can help in improving the team basics of where different
teams can come to an effective solution to problems faced due to common issue. For example
multi-disciplinary teams such as community workers, youth, residents, parents, etc which can be
from various backgrounds which can work in collaboration with each other in order to provide

the proper care to young people (Sjöberg, Rambaree and Jojo, 2015). In social work
professionals from various disciplines can collaborate with each other in order to help other and
providing and effective solution to the social problems. If community workers and youth work in
multi-disciplinary teams they can get a different views from different teams on a particular
problem or situation. As, it may involve different professionals and can share information and
opinions and learn from each other. Multi-disciplinary approach provides an opportunity to
different teams to discuss on different positive and negative ways of achieving objectives. Also,
they can formulate an effective strategies and initiatives which can help in providing an effective
solution to the problems faced in communities. By using multi-disciplinary approach community
workers and youth can have major benefits as they increase the scope of operations and various
initiative which are taken can prove cost effective. This approach can help in serving young
people in an effective manner.
P7 Key issues of inequality and its impact
Within the generation inequalities have grow and it is the young men and women who
bear the consequences of it and now it is growing at alarming rate from past years. Young people
possess creativity, energy as well as passion to do something for their future. It has been
analysed young generation of the world are facing a range inequalities in various aspects of their
lives. Most of the times young people suffer from intersectional discrimination when their
identies are overlapping which creates a barriers for them in participating the society. This can
have a huge impact in the future and mental health of young people as the can result in devoid of
opportunity for them. There may arise multiple inequalities which may fall on most of the young
people like young women, lesbians, bisexual, gays, trangenders, ethni minorities and questioning
(LGBTIQ). In most of the countries girls are dying from childbirth and it has been estimated the
1 out of 3 girls get married before 18 years of age (Watt, 2017). This situation can arise die to
growth of economic inequalities within the societies of world which major issue. This has
resulted in a gap of rich and poor within the societies which may negatively affect the young
people as it will result in reduction of opportunities for them. There is also an inequality of
economy which has affected young people's education, heath and various other services. Due this
lower income level and middle income young people are not able to get quality education and
medical facilities which have a negative impact on their health and education which may make
their future depressing. This can make the future of the societies more and more and depressing ,

as young people are unable to get the opportunities due to various factors like social and
economic which can have negative affect the social cohesion.
P8 Impact of issues on the development and well-being
One of the major issue due to social inequality is lack of quality education to young
people which affect their future by making it less secure. This can have a impact on their
development and well-being as young people won't able to access to proper knowledge and
required education which they need for growth and development purpose particularly lower
class and middle class people. These are the people which require support form community
workers and youth. Another group is LGBTIQ group young people who face discrimination and
prejudice in various ways (Andersson and Alexander, 2016). This inequalities can directly
impact their mental and physical health which can affect their development process and these are
the major group in the society which requires support form community workers and youth as this
is the group which face discrimination on regular basis, and they can play an important role in
supporting these people and help in their development process. Another key issue of
development and well-being of lower income class and middle class young people are economic
inequalities which have a negative effect on their development and well-being. These are the
young people to which community workers and youth can support them financially in order to
help them in their development process.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that there are various key legislation which are
directly relevant to youth and community development and practice. There are various initiative
which can be taken by workers and youth to enable young people in their development and their
contribution towards society. Also, community workers and youth has got a huge responsibilities
while facilitating community initiatives and community workers and youth can make use multi-
disciplinary approach in order to help young people in minimising the contemporary issues of
inequality.

REFERENCES
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Construction of Policy: Social Work Discretion and the Construction of Policy.
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Garrett, L.E., Spreitzer, G.M. and Bacevice, P.A., 2017. Co-constructing a sense of community
at work: The emergence of community in coworking spaces. Organization Studies. 38(6).
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discourse as a means of shaping the implementation of a global enterprise system to meet
local work culture. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (pp. 5954-5965). ACM.
Loring, P.A., Gerlach, S.C. and Penn, H.J., 2016. “Community work” in a climate of adaptation:
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Naidoo, A.V., Zygmont, C. and Philips, S., 2017. Harnessing the power of ecopsychology in
community work. In Emancipatory and participatory methodologies in peace, critical,
and community psychology (pp. 77-89). Springer, Cham.
Shuman, M., Baron, A. and Wasserman, W., 2019. Community Food Enterprise: Local Success
in a Global Marketplace. Gates Open Res. 3.
Sjöberg, S., Rambaree, K. and Jojo, B., 2015. Collective empowerment: A comparative study of
community work in M umbai and S tockholm. International Journal of Social
Welfare. 24(4). pp.364-375.
Watt, D., 2017. Dealing with difficult conversations: Anti-racism in youth & community work
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Online
Nicholson D, Artz S and Armitage A., 2019. Working Relationships and Outcomes in
Multidisciplinary Collaborative Practice Settings. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://iims.uthscsa.edu/sites/iims/files/Relationships-4.pdf>.