Voyage stands for Voice of Youth And Genuine Empowerment. We chose this name because we are committed to youth advocacy, leadership and development. We offer programmes providing work-based learning, mentoring and motivational cognitive workshops to create positive pathways for educational and professional development. Voyage supports young Black and Minority Ethnic people who feel marginalised and/or are on the fringes of mainstream education. Voyage also aims to build an environment of greater trust and confidence between young people in the Black and Minority Ethnic communities and organisations in the criminal justice and education systems. We do this by empowering young people to make improvements in their communities and transforming the that the organisations perceive our beneficiaries.
We achieve this through our unique, specially adapted and crafted programmes: Young Leaders for Safer Cities (YLfSC) YLfSC is a preventative programme aimed at disadvantaged 13 to 15 year BME young people, identified as at risk of leaving education and/or showing gang affiliated lifestyles. The programme aims to improve attitudes towards education, change impressions on people in authority (especially the police) and make young people more aware of how they can personally thrive. Students receive a BTEC level 2 qualification with a focus on developing leadership skills. The course takes place over 11 Saturdays between March and June (with a graduation in July). Horizons Plus Horizons is a unique Personal Development Course by Voyage Youth and is more designed and aimed at young people deemed at risk and already engaged by the Youth Justice system or teams. The Horizon’s course is accessed by a referrals process, usually through Youth Offending Services, teams Secure Children’s Homes (SCH), a Secure Training Centres (STC) or Young Offender Institutions (YOI). The Horizons programme now includes optional mentoring thereafter.
