POST TITLE: Y-Hub Outreach and Community Youth Support Worker
POST REFERENCE: YHUB/Outreach
LOCATION: YMCA Swansea
RESPONSIBLE TO: Y-HUB Co-ordinator
PORTFOLIO: Youth and Community Department
HOURS: 15 Hours Per Week
SALARY: £24360 (pro rata)
CONTRACT: 1 Year contract in the first instance
FUNDER: West Glamorgan Partnership Board: Regional Integration Fund

Y-HUB

Y-Hub is currently delivered across three key strands of youth work approaches: A universal Youth Club, which runs on a Friday evening, an Outreach/Street-Work provision and an accessible 5-day drop-in centre based in the City Centre of Swansea. Our aim is to create communities where young people truly belong, contribute and thrive. In over a year of delivering these strands together, we have witnessed what an invaluable service, Y-Hub is in achieving this. Y-Hub is genuinely a life-changing and at times a life-saving project.
The Outreach element is delivered in a variety of ways, taking support and activities directly to young people in their environments, often engaging with those at risk of exploitation and other vulnerabilities. A core focus remains on building meaningful relationships with young people based on trust and respect, encouraging them to engage with other centre-based services. In addition to our street-based work, we work closely with schools across Swansea, delivering regular lunchtime clubs and drop-in sessions, taking our services directly to where young people are. Our outreach efforts also include working in partnership with, and supporting, wider community outreach projects and services. We work collaboratively with local partners and community initiatives to engage young people and respond flexibly to the emerging needs of both young people and the wider community.
To complement our outreach efforts, our Friday Night Youth Club provides a welcoming space where young people can access more intensive, needs-based support. Based in Swansea city centre, Y-Hub’s youth club offers a consistent, safe, and warm environment on Friday nights, helping reduce young people’s vulnerability by providing an alternative to spending time on the streets. The club offers a hot, nutritionally balanced meal each week, ensuring young people have access to at least one hot meal regularly, while also building essential life skills through fun and educational cooking sessions. Y-Hub creates opportunities for young people to participate in a variety of activities, including arts and crafts, music making, karaoke, and a selection of games. Each week also features a topic-based activity covering important issues such as sexual health, county-lines, healthy relationships, substance use, boundaries, risk-taking, exploitation, and more.
Through ongoing consultation and feedback from young people, we have identified a clear and continued demand in Swansea for accessible youth support services and thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, we have developed and expanded our existing provision, to offer a unique and innovative 5-Day Drop-in centre, which has now been open for over a year. The drop-in has quickly become a much needed, thriving hub of support, providing a consistent, accessible and safe place for young people to receive tailored support. It also enables ongoing consultation with young people, ensuring the service evolves to reflect their priorities and the needs of the wider community. The drop-in welcomes a variety of other service providers, ensuring young people can access the right support at the right time. Many of the young people who access this provision face multiple barriers and require intensive support, alongside opportunities to build essential life skills. The 5-day drop-in offers a safe space where young people can spend time, connect with peers, and simply be themselves. They can take part in topic-based sessions, workshops, and training opportunities, access a range of external services delivered by partner organisations, and be appointed a Youth Support Worker who can provide regular and reliable support across a wide range of life topics.
Y-HUB is now a multi-faceted, holistic programme which supports young people to achieve more positive outcomes through:
- Unique & innovative 5-day Drop-In - will not only provide a consistent, accessible safe place for Young People to receive support but it will also enable continuous consultation to ensure our service is fit for purpose and delivering the priorities of the community
- Youth Club - Will provide an attractive, safe place to Young People who are highly vulnerable to antisocial behaviour, trafficking and exploitation. We will prioritise improving the social, economic, environmental & cultural well-being of not only those who directly engage with the project but of those in the community as a whole.
- Outreach – Expansion on existing outreach, connecting with young people on the streets, in schools, home-schooled, accessing other services and signposting them YMCA Swansea services.
- One-to-One Intensive Support - Will offer intensive youth work support, helping to overcome personal barriers, signposting, wellbeing support, independent living support, and experiential learning opportunities. It will enable Youth Workers to build reliable, trustworthy and professional relationships with those Young People when they really need it, many of whom have no one else to turn to and nowhere else to go.
- Training/Education Advice & Support – Providing in-house educational opportunities for young people to develop new skills. Supporting young people to access a range of external opportunities based on their needs, interests and aspirations.
- Full Youth and Community Wrap-Around Provision – Working within the wider Youth and Community department at YMCA Swansea, to ensure we work holistically offering young people opportunities to access LGBTQ+ support, Music and Arts, Summer Programs, Trips and Activities and more.
2.0 JOB DESCRIPTION/DUTIES To work under the direction of the CEO, Youth and Community Manager, and the Y-HUB Co-Ordinator to assist in the delivery of YMCA Swansea’s Youth Work Provision. The role will be to support Young People 11-25. Given the constantly evolving and expanding challenges that young people encounter, we believe that this position is crucial in addressing the needs of young people by providing them with support, advice, and guidance. The following are the roles and responsibilities associated with this position. However, these may be subject to change or refinement as the project progresses. Working with the Y-Hub Co-ordinator to facilitate both the planning and delivery of YMCA Swansea’s Y-Hub service and to ensure the high-quality delivery of Youth Work Practice, for young people accessing the project. The main duties will include:-
1. Deliver Youth Work outreach support by engaging young people public spaces such as parks, streets, or town centres linking in with other outreach services and professionals in Swansea.
2. Work independently or in teams in detached contexts to identify young people at risk of social isolation, anti-social behaviour, or vulnerability.
3. Deliver structured and planned school lunch-time clubs and outreach sessions in Schools across Swansea in partnership with other services under the Youth and Community Department.
4. Build excellent relationships with young people by meeting them where they are, creating trust and mutual respect.
5. Idenitfy community needs and create positive relationships with individuals or groups, especially those not engaged with formal support services.
6. Offer meaningful conversations, advice, and informal education in real-time, in unplanned settings.
7. Address sensitive issues affecting young people, such as mental health, substance misuse, housing, or employment.
8. To have an excellent knowledge of all services in Swansea and to connect young people to relevant services, such as mental health support, housing advice, or employment schemes.
9. Advocate on behalf of young people with external organizations, ensuring their needs and rights are met.
10. Help young people understand their options and support them in making informed decisions.
11. Organise and deliver informal activities tailored to the needs and interests of young people in their communities.
12. Encourage young people to participate in positive activities that promote personal growth, teamwork, and self-expression.
13. Keep accurate records of engagements and activities, maintaining confidentiality where required.
14. Ensure that frameworks such as the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work, Youth Work in Wales: Principles and Purposes, Five Ways of Wellbeing and Youth Empowerment Principles are incorporated into all activity and programme planning.
15. Provide young people with quality youth work support, addressing challenges/barrier they are experiencing (e.g., emotional, social, or practical).
16. Build and maintain strong professional relationships with a wide range of other services and professionals, for excellent partnership working and networking that is in the best interest of young people.
17. Work collaboratively with other staff members and volunteers to deliver high-quality services.
18. Conduct risk assessments, balancing safety with the benefit of risk for personal growth and development.
19. Provide regular reports to line managers, reflecting on successes, challenges, and areas for development.
20. Demonstrate thorough skills in planning, recording and evaluating youth work practice.
21. Ensure completion of activity session plans, risk assessments and project evaluations are always complete and accessible.
22. Use data to evaluate the impact of outreach work and inform future planning.
23. Work as part of the Y-Hub team, under the direction of the Y-Hub Coordinator to achieve project Targets, Aims and Outcomes – ensuring all projects outcomes are successfully completed.
24. Prepare and maintain participant records in line with GDPR Regulations.
25. To ensure the delivery of Quality Youth Work, through a range of Youth Work approach’s, following the Youth Work Strategy for Wales 2019.
26. To support young people by knowing their rights and advocating on their behalf as well as supporting them to have a voice within their community.
27. Prepare project update reports as required for internal monitoring and external funders. To liaise with project partners to collate all project evidence as required by the funding body.
28. To work with your YMCA colleagues to ensure the overarching aims and objectives for YMCA Swansea and the Youth and Community Team are achieved.
29. Promote and publicise YMCA Swansea and its services.
30. Contribute to regular supervision and work appraisals.
31. Undertake training, as deemed necessary to the success of the post.
32. Undertake any further duties deemed necessary for the success of the Youth and Community Team.

Please refer the Job description for details