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One of the areas of activity that has developed at the Tartu Youth Work Centre is supporting youth-initiated projects, which we briefly call NOA. These are projects initiated by young people aged 11-19, be it a party, a fair, a training session, a podcast, a creative work, or anything else, whose activities are aimed at the community or young people. The aim of the activity is to support young people in implementing their ideas and thereby also the wider community. To achieve this, we provide them with a youth worker who can help them brainstorm ideas, ask for assistance with necessary tasks, or, for example, with carrying out the project. We also provide financial support for youth activities, the amount of which has increased to up to 400 euros this year. The project…

From February 9-13, director Margit Kink and Ilmatsalu Youth Centre manager Elen Hermanson went on a study visit to Tampere for the “Inspirational Study Visit - Services for youth in NEET situation in Finland”. During the week, they visited various institutions whose activities are aimed at NEET youth* and learned about different new methods used in youth work in Finland. During the study trip, it was observed that in Finland, systematic youth work is also done for young people aged 18+, offering similar services that are primarily provided to minors in Estonia. One impressive practice that stood out was Opetuskahvilla, which is like a youth cafe where NEET youth are given their first work experience, either as customer service representatives or in other roles associated with running a cafe. They create menus, advertise their services, and much more. This provides initial experience and...

From January 16-20, a board game week was held at the Tartu Youth Work Center in cooperation with Brain Games. The aim of the board game week was to introduce various board games to young people, learn them together, and enable them to play new games in the youth room in the future. Over four days, different board games were played, and the week concluded with a board game tournament chosen by the young participants. During the week, games like UNO, Lama, Ligretto, Klask, Rummy, and Carcassonne were played. The latter was taught to the young people by Brain Games' super cool game masters: Robin, Martin, and Laura. It also happened that games not originally planned, such as Team3, were played. Although the game masters were initially supposed to teach only older youth, the Anne Youth Center game master also ended up teaching Carcassonne to younger youth. Anne's parents...

Yesterday, January 17, an event recognizing contributors to Tartu's youth sector took place at the Alexela creative stage, where the past year's achievements were reviewed and the most notable ones were honored. Elen Hermanson, the head of the Ilmatsalu Youth Center of the Tartu Youth Work Center, was nominated as the Youth Worker of the Year. In 2022, Elen stood out as an extremely dedicated, conscientious, and development-oriented youth worker. She easily establishes good contact and a trusting relationship with young people both on the street and in the open youth room. Working with young people in risky situations is particularly close to her heart. Under her leadership, mobile youth work has been developed in Tartu; she has initiated and led a network of specialists working with at-risk youth and has built good working relationships with various organizations. In the autumn of 2022, she also accepted the challenge of leading the Ilmatsalu Youth Center,...

There is a widespread misconception in society that dessert is unhealthy and is essentially a sugar bomb. Dessert usually refers to products soaked in processed ingredients, sugar, and fat, which are bought ready-made from stores. In such cases, the consumer cannot control what and how much goes into the dessert or how it is made. There is less of a habit of making dessert at home. However, it is much safer to eat food that you have prepared yourself from start to finish and whose ingredients you are aware of. Many sweet products sold in stores contain rapidly absorbed carbohydrates, which are burdensome for the body in large quantities. While such carbohydrates provide quick energy, appetite and energy levels also return just as quickly...

This week, January 16-20, Tartu Youth Center is hosting Board Game Week. The event is being held in cooperation with board game store Brain Games. Board Game Week runs from Monday to Friday, during which various board games will be played with young people. Games such as Carcassonne, Sushi Go, Klask, Lama, and others will be played, provided by Brain Games.   On Thursday, Brain Games game leaders will visit three centers (Anne and Lille centers for 12-19 year olds and Ilmatsalu Youth Center) to teach young people and youth workers how to play the board game Carcassonne. The lessons will take place between 3 and 6 p.m. We will end the board game week on Friday with board game tournaments in all centers, featuring games chosen by the young people themselves. The winners will receive prizes from Brain Games and Tartu...

During the first week of the year, our youth workers broke the routine in a fairytale glass house, in the magical Christmas city on Tartu Town Hall Square. Visitors who entered the house were offered various creative activities. For example, young people could design socks, t-shirts, and fabric bags; those who wished could draw, and those who wished could play board games. During the day, they met both older and younger visitors, as well as their parents, who also learned a lot about the Tartu Youth Work Centre. What do the youth workers who were on site say about the experience? Aveli: "I liked the atmosphere of the little house. Everyone who entered our doors was open to conversation and other exciting activities. The most memorable part of the Christmas city for me was the little friends who eagerly recycled..."

Perhaps you have already heard us mention terms like MONO or mobile youth work or inviting youth work? This is quite likely, because in addition to open youth work, our focus for two years has been precisely inviting youth work, which is part of mobile youth work! The goal of inviting youth work is to introduce youth work opportunities to young people and to reach young people who would not otherwise come to the centers. You can read more about it here. On November 24, the final seminar of the Erasmus+ project "Street Youth Work ABC", organized by the Tartu Youth Work Center and Baltijas Regionalais Fonds, took place at Tartu Kammivabrik. Participants were from both Estonia and Latvia, and together they discussed communication with young people, reflection, preparation, and interventions in street youth work…

Margit Kink, director of the Tartu Youth Work Center, shared her experiences with the Tartu Postimees newspaper regarding the involvement of a sign language youth worker in the activities of the youth center. "The Tartu Youth Work Center hired a sign language youth worker with the help of the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund. The center's director, Margit Kink, says that the experience was enriching, increased the empathy of the entire team, and showed them that there is no need to be afraid of communicating with sign language users."   Read more in the article⤵️ https://www.postimees.ee/7653252/viipekeelse-inimese-kaasamine-meeskonda-rikastab-kogu-kollektiivi