"Virtual Youth Zone"

Over the past month, the wonderful Wigan Youth Zone (WYZ) team have established a completely new platform to engage young people who need their support now more than ever. They’ve been overwhelmed at how well their ‘Virtual Youth Zone’ has been adopted by the young people and the feedback they have received from young people, parents and the wider community has been exceptional. These times are difficult for young people with reported increases in abuse and diminished mental health; Wigan Youth Zone is committed to doing as much as we can at this critical time.

It is with this context, that I am pleased to share with you the headlines from a very eventful and successful month as well as providing an overview of support that would be welcomed during these times if you have the capacity.
Young People

Within 72 hours of the lockdown being announced, WYZ creative and talented team launched their ‘Virtual Youth Zone’ to provide open-access and universal content for all young people and their families to engage with. Operational seven days a week, young people can engage with pre-recorded and live activities which cover a variety of programmatic zones such as cooking, music, dance, fitness, quizzes, Lego sessions, games and issues-based work. As you will see from the WYZ impact report (click here attached) the engagement has been significant.