NCS powered by JLGB social action week round up!

Week 3 of NCS powered by JLGB is Social Action Week. Each team uses the skills they have developed during the previous two weeks and the money awarded to them based on their 'Dragon's Den' pitches to launch their social action campaign on a topic that matters to them.

We are proud that this year we have five innovative social action projects that are making a difference in local communities and across wider society. Even though the programme itself has now finished, the impact the groups have had on society, and the bonds they have created with each other, will last for years to come. For this we wanted to extend a huge congratulations to all of the participants and team leaders.  

It's been an amazing few weeks with some phenomenal social action projects which you can read more about below.

JLGB proudly presents ... 
NCS Social Action Projects 2017

The Digital Group - FDLB
Follow @imjustmeFDLB

FDLB have been tackling gender stereotypes. They've taken social media by storm with their hastags #imjustme and #smashingstereotypeswhile sharing insightful articles about gender stereotypes by experts and created a short film and informative posters to hand out to the public to challenge their perception of gender stereotypes. They're taking their project to the next level by already thinking to the future and creating lesson plans to be delivered in schools. 
Support their cause by sharing your thoughts on social media using the #imjustme hashtag

The Photography Group - Wild Cats
Follow @BTDncs

The Wild Cats got all dressed up in traditional dress from different faiths in a fashion show for their social action project called Bridging the Division. The aim of their multi-faith fashion show was to celebrate the diversity of their group and promote social cohesion and tolerance. They also created education pamphlets to sell to the audience of over 100 people raising a phenomenal £500 for interfaith charities.
Support their cause by donating HERE

The Sport Group - All Stars 
Follow @allstarfitnessncs

Team All Stars set out to prove to the public the enormous benefits exercise has on mental health. They achieved this by encouraging members of the public to power their smoothie bikes while visiting their stall in the busy metropolis of Brunswick Square. This had the added benefit of producing healthy, tasty smoothies while fundraising for mental health charity, Mind.
Support their cause by donating HERE 

The Catering Group - The Lamb Sauce
Follow @project_brownie

The Lamb Sauce team has been busy baking delicious brownies and packaging them with a comic strip whose central character that has autism. Through their brownies and comic strip, the catering group aim to illustrate to members of the public what life is like through the eyes of a person with autism. They've been selling their brownies to raise funds for Mencap and The National Autism Society.
Support their cause by donating HERE

The Film Group - Team Something
Follow @crylikeaman

 Its been all lights, camera and action for Team Something, they've created a film to challenge the stigma associated with mental health in males such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders. With support from charity, The Mix, Team Something hope to show men everywhere that having a mental health problem does not make them any less of a man and to teach people how to be supportive to a friend or family member who is suffering from a mental health condition. They've been publicising their film on social media using their hashtag #crylikeaman.
Support their cause by donating HERE 
Watch their video below 

Register your interest in joining NCS powered by JLGB 2018 by emailing NCS@jlgb.org 

The Digital Group - FDLB
Follow @imjustmeFDLB

FDLB have been tackling gender stereotypes. They've taken social media by storm with their hastags #imjustme and #smashingstereotypeswhile sharing insightful articles about gender stereotypes by experts and created a short film and informative posters to hand out to the public to challenge their perception of gender stereotypes. They're taking their project to the next level by already thinking to the future and creating lesson plans to be delivered in schools. 
Support their cause by sharing your thoughts on social media using the #imjustme hashtag

NCS powered by JLGB skills week round up!

We can't believe that it is now the end of another week of our NCS Powered by JLGB Programme. What a week it has been!

Each morning participants have been taking part in workshops delivered by industry experts related to their chosen skill. On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon each group went out and about visiting various businesses and charities, learning about how they operate and picking up new skills along the way. The aim of Skills Week is to empower participants with the ideas and knowledge they need ahead of the launch of their social action projects next week.

Photography Group - The Wild Cats 

Our photography group were lucky enough to visit Crisis, a charity that works to combat homelessness, and Autograph ABP. Highlights included being part of an English lesson taught to homeless people and an all inclusive tour of Crisis, learning how each department works to achieve their aim, as well as looking around the Autograph gallery and learning all the techniques needed for that perfect shot from professional photographers. For their social action project the group have chosen to celebrate the diversity within their own group that reflects the diversity of society. They will be hosting and photographing a glamorous interfaith fashion show featuring traditional dress and make up to teach people that regardless of their religion or what they look like, they are still beautiful and accepted. 

Catering Group - The Lamb Sauce 

The Catering group, had a brilliant afternoon at London's oldest market, Borough Market in Southwark. Participants learnt about the market's 1,000 year history, got to learn about getting into the catering industry from a trader and had a private tour of the market. Their second visit was to FareShare, a food redistribution charity, where the young people volunteered to sort 15 pallets of food, which could equate to approximately 17,000 meals for young people in need across London. The catering group are going to focus their social action project on raising money and awareness for autism by baking and selling brownies for the National Autism Society that will be packaged with useful information and advice about autism and how it can affect individuals, including an awareness comic.

Digital Group - FDLB

The digital group were lucky enough to visit Twitter UK, meeting key people and exploring their career paths and how they got where they are during a behind the scenes tour. Their second visit was to The Mix charity where they learnt how digital skills are used to support young people facing challenges that range from mental health to housing. Their social action topic will be addressing labels and stereotypes and how damaging they can be to an individual. They plan to use their digital expertise to get their social action campaign hashtags, #imjustme and #smashingstereotypes to go viral and smash gender stereotypes. 

Sport and Fitness Group - All Stars 

Sports and Fitness group met with Kick It Out and learnt about discrimination and inclusivity within sport. Learning about the gender gap in sport, at their charity visit to Sport England, they watched the #thisgirlcan campaign and discussed encouraging women to participate in sport and were treated to a practical coaching session around the table tennis table! Discussing what makes a meaningful volunteering project inspired the group to focus their social action project on mental health and the huge benefit sport and fitness can have to improve mental health. 

The Filming Group - Team Something 

Our film-making group went to Media Trust and ITN Productions where they were given the chance to see the behind the scenes operation of two leading organisations. At ITN, the group experienced first-hand the day to day life of an ITV News presenter. Sitting in the studio where the news is recorded the group heard about apprenticeship opportunities available! At Media Trust, our group were impressed by tips shared on how to produce high quality footage from their mobile phones. They will be using these new tricks and techniques to challenge the stigma associated with mental health in the male community for their social action project. The group aims to raise awareness with an original film to educate the public on this important issue. 

The 'Dragon's Den'

We were delighted to be joined by a panel of 'Dragon's' who listened to each groups social action pitches and awarded money to each group to help them launch and deliver their projects next week. The 'Dragon's' were Jenny Woodrow from the NCS Trust, Laura-Jane Rawlings from Youth Employment UK, and our very own JLGB CEO, Neil Martin OBE. The judges were truly inspired by the causes that the groups have chosen to support and were amazed at how well the participants had considered all of the different elements needed to deliver a successful project.

We would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our industry experts who facilitated workshops, organised and hosted visits and sat on the panel, you have all helped to inspire and empower the young participants to go out and create change within their communities, for this we are truly grateful. We can't wait to see the projects in action next week and wish the participants the very best of luck. 

WEEK 3... What's happening?

In Week 3 participants will work together in their groups to create and deliver their own Social Action Project using the money that was awarded by our panel of 'Dragon's'

NCS powered by JLGB adventure week round up!

As week 1 of NCS Powered by JLGB comes to a close we wanted to update all our friends and supporters of JLGB's unique and award winning National Citizen Service programme on what a brilliant week it has been so far.

With over 70 young people from a mix of faiths and cultural backgrounds, including Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Hindu, there is a real buzz amongst the group. JLGB's unique faith sensitive provision removes barriers to participation to ensure that all young people can fully engage in NCS without compromising their individual beliefs or values while bringing together a social mix of young people who may have never met before. 

During Adventure Week, each morning, the participants took part in a variety of adventure and team building activities including: ariel runway, off road biking, high ropes, climbing, caving and kit kart racing. This year's participants were lucky to pilot two brand new water sport activities: crabbing and rib riding. One group even sighted the incredibly rare porpoise, a dolphin-like creature that only comes out a few times a year!

All of the young participants have really bonded and have been able to strengthen their own personal and collective identities through our daily social cohesion sessions. Already participants have grown in confidence and have been sharing their thoughts and reflections each day within their teams. Our evening entertainment sessions included African drumming workshops, quizzes, and football zorbing. 

WEEK 2... What's happening?

In Week 2 participants will visit businesses and charities related to their chosen skill and see first-hand how they can use this skill to contribute to society.

Industry experts will also be on hand to deliver Skills Development Sessions so that participants are fully equipped to pitch their own Social Action Project to our panel of expert 'Dragons' that they will then deliver during Week 3.