A brand new youth empowerment framework has been rolled out across JLGB groups across the country. The ‘SURGE Kitemark’ (which stands for: Sharing Uniting Retaining Growing and Empowering) has been created by members of JLGB’s National Youth Forum of youth representatives called ‘The Voice’.
Over many years the JLGB has done more and more to put young people at the centre of everything we do, not just with the activities but also with all aspects of the planning of local groups, events and camps.
The JLGB Voice committee created the kitemark as a framework to evermore empower young people and to recognise and celebrate the successes of local JLGB groups as well as paying tribute and acknowledging the incredibly hard work undertaken by the adult, student and youth volunteer teams who run them each week.
The SURGE Kitemark awards credits and rewards in the 5 SURGE proof categories:
When a local group reaches the kitemark standard they will receive a reward, which will be a monetary prize for the local group to spend on an outing or bringing in an outside team. Scores will also contribute to the overall best group prize at the National JLGB Awards each year.
Outgoing Co-chairs of the Voice, Alex Diamond and Katy Diamond, who worked on the kitemark during their term said:
“The SURGE Kitemark will improve the standard of local groups so each member from Glasgow to Kingston has an equally amazing experience with JLGB. As well as this, it will encourage our local groups to reach new heights to ensure the development of each group and the growth of JLGB.”
Modern technology and online systems created by JLGB are helping with the recording and calculating of kitemark achievements across groups. They are also bringing local groups closer together by making it possible for group leaders to share and collaborate on activities and projects to ensure that local activity has national impact. This has been shown only recently, through JLGB weekly groups being awarded Mitzvah Day’s Biggest Impact Award, where local action had major national impact.