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10 November 2008
Young men today
by
Simon Antrobus
I am delighted that Lewis Hamilton has won the Formula 1 world title – he’s a decent guy and has done extremely well. Lewis is a great role model for young people – articulate, ambitious and gracious. He’s achieved a great deal in his short Formula 1 career and I am sure there is more to come. However, there is a much wider lesson for us all to learn here. I don’t doubt that Lewis is a self starter, confident and driven, but his success as a sportsman and as a young person is not just down to him alone and he is clearly the first to acknowledge this. Behind Lewis is what most, if not all young lads want and need – a supportive father. Someone Lewis has been able to turn to, who cares, can listen, understand and encourage, who can quite simply be there for him. A Channel Four documentary last week emphasised this point well – albeit with a little drama and soap opera. Young men growing up need role models like Lewis, but they also need strong, caring, supportive men in their communities. Talking recently with a number of young men, academics and community workers, I am struck by the real shortage of positive male role models in our communities. My experience is that young men want to be loved and cared for by their parents and they desperately need the love and support of an attentive father or father figure. In many cases this is simply not there – absent fathers are creating a generation of frustrated and bitter young men, coupled with ever shrinking safe community space, confusion about their role as the next generation of young men and an unsympathetic and critical wider society it’s no wonder that these young men feel marginalised and search out other less positive role models they can look up to. And of course, if we don’t deal with it, it’s inevitable, their frustration quickly turns to anger and rage. I recall a young guy I worked with over a short period of time. He drank heavily, he wasn’t in a gang but he was on the streets a lot and anger was a big issue for him. His dad wasn’t around and when he was it was a traumatic time. I worked with him on his feelings. He readily admitted that this affected him emotionally. So much so that he felt unable to tell his mother how much he loved her and how much he missed his father. We spent time talking about this and worked out how best to tell his mum how he felt. He finally did find a way of expressing his feelings and whilst it didn’t bring his father back it brought him a step closer to his mum. Ok, I admit, I am simplifying things here, but we disregard at our peril the need to understand the sensitive side and emotional needs of these young men and I am pleased that we recognise this at Clubs for Young People. Our long history of work with young men means something to me. Over eighty years ago our organisation was set up to ‘champion and support work with young men – to help them through the difficult transition to adulthood’. It was relevant 80 years ago and it’s relevant today, and I am committed to ensuring we explore how best we respond to this 21st century challenge in a 21st century way.
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24 October 2008
Youth Clubs - Part of the solution
by
Simon Antrobus
I am always shocked and appalled when I hear the news that there has been another fatal stabbing of a young person on our streets. A totally unnecessary loss. Our thoughts and our hearts go out to the family. It is an unimaginable position to be in and I cannot begin to understand the sense of shock and loss the family will be feeling.
I cannot claim to know the family or Joe - the young person, but like all young people he had his whole life ahead of him. So much hope and promise which has been needlessly taken away by another young person.
There is no doubt too that justice must prevail. The young people that have taken a life must be dealt with properly and robustly. They must accept the consequences of their actions. Joe was an innocent bystander engaged in positive activities in his local youth club, like the majority of young people - a decent person.
I wrote last week about the issue of young people and safety on our streets. I noted then that when I meet and talk to young people in their communities, feeling safe on the streets is an issue of real concern and incidents like this make it all too apparent. Young people themselves find such acts of violence inconceivable and shocking. Let’s be clear this is not the fault of all young people. On several radio interviews on the morning the story broke I heard mature, sensible commentators and journalists raising concerns about ‘wild and unmanageable young people’ or ‘feral youth’, this media frenzy does nothing to answer the challenges our young people face and further perpetuates an unnecessary fear of young people.
Clearly there needs to be a debate and a response, but what the debate needs now is a measured sense of urgency not unhelpful stereotyping and posturing. There needs to be action but it can’t just be a swift punitive response that assumes all young people engage in such activities. We must not let the perceived need to ‘clean up our streets’ get in the way of young people enjoying their lives. Joe was enjoying an evenings activity in his local youth club along with over 50 other young people. This is testament to the vast majority of young people that, given the opportunity to make a positive contribution in their communities, will grab it with both hands. It is at times like this that we should encourage and celebrate young people’s positive contribution in their local communities. We need to find more ways to ensure more young people are able to take up these opportunities. It’s not easy, supporting some young people will take great effort, time and commitment as well as a willingness to understand.
But, in the words of London Youth 'we should not be so naïve as to imagine that youth clubs are a magic answer. Youth clubs are an important part of the jigsaw precisely because they are enduring, not fixed-life, short-term interventions: families know and trust their local youth club (indeed they often volunteer running it) and in youth leaders, young people are able to form trusting, productive relationships with sensible adults over an extended period. These relationships are preventative in themselves – providing consistent resilience and support to vulnerable young people. Alongside positive activities, they are absolutely crucial. In addition youth clubs are places young people choose to go to. They are also places where young people are involved in the running of the club and given practical opportunities for leadership.'
Young people themselves in a recent research study conducted by Brunel University said that a vast majority of them attended their local youth club or project because it gave them positive things to do in one of the safest places in their communities and we should not lose sight of this.
Club and community based youth work is playing its part and I am convinced it will continue to do this.
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15 October 2008
Young people will tell you it's all about safety..
by
Simon Antrobus
Rowenna Davis’ article in the G2 section of the Guardian (Tuesday 14th October) - A Thin Line Between Love and Hate is remarkable in its description and clarity and utterly compelling and worrying in its depiction of the challenge many young people face as they grow up in their local communities across the UK. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has conducted research into the harmful affects of territoriality amongst young people. Maps drawn by young people themselves show that despite our unrelenting march towards globalisation and the breakdown of international barriers, for many young people the exact opposite is the case. Their horizon and with it their aspirations and opportunities is shrinking. Young people who spend time together at school but live on separate parts of a neighbourhood cannot enjoy each others company outside the school without entering ‘unsafe’ territory. Unsafe territory that is just a few streets away. It shows how, for some young people space and territory have become king.
Why has this happened? Why have we let this happen? In a modern society, it can’t be right that our young people do not feel safe beyond the few streets that define where they live. The research points to some important factors which I have seen as I travel the country meeting young people and community groups and our first job is not to blame the young people themselves.
Why is space shrinking for young people?
Firstly, We do a disservice to young people through our negative depiction of them in the media. Young people themselves will tell you that our view of them as the root cause of everything wrong with Britain today harms their life chances, fuels the gang and violence culture within which they find themselves and knocks their self confidence and self worth. Secondly, and more worryingly though, this has a damaging impact on both young people’s perception and reality of safety in their communities. If young people do not feel safe to travel around their own communities, cross others and explore new horizons and opportunities then their chances are bound to be limited. Whether real of perceived, if we do not address the issue of young peoples safety in our communities we cannot expect them to learn and grow in a supportive and positive environment. Safety shrinks space - as the article rightly identifies it create feelings in communities and amongst young people that the opportunities of the wider world are not available to them, that there is little life beyond their territory and that the only respect and value is in alliances made at the neighbourhood level in the ‘endz’ or the ‘hood’.
Widening young people’s horizons is absolutely critical, resolving conflict and breaking down concerns around safety can reduce crime and violence in communities – many young say they only carry a knife for protection. For our part we are committed to ensuring that young people have a safe place to go in their communities – youth centres, clubs and drop-ins in local communities are a vital part of the solution, this was evident in my recent trip to a housing estate in Glasgow as was the chronic under funding of these groups. In addition to this I fully support Mark Johnson’s suggestion that emotional education is critical to supporting young people through their lives – as early as possible (Forget Sats: lesson one is a basic emotional education – Guardian 15th Oct). We really need to stop blaming young people and start trying to understand and offer support. If we don’t, we risk ever shrinking horizons for young people and comfort in their street and their gang.
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25 September 2008
A coming together .........
by
Simon Antrobus
I am delighted that Clubs for Young People is part of the fringe meetings at this years party conferences. As member of the newly launched Coalition for Youth, Clubs for Young People has joined forces with 4 Children, UK Youth, the National Youth Agency, NCVYS, NCB and UK Youth Parliament to create a coalition of national voluntary youth organisations. Our aim is simple, we want a more coordinated and joined up approach to influencing policy around young people and improvements in the way young people are represented in the media. Last week the launch received support from the Liberal Democrats at their conference and was welcomed by both Ed Balls and Beverley Hughes at the Labour Party conference. At a time when young people are so high on the agenda in this country it’s vital that we use our collective experience and knowledge to influence future thinking so I am pleased that we have come together to lead the way.
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04 September 2008
More than just a map Boris
by
Simon Antrobus
So Boris has a new toy. All the way from America. A state of the art mapping system that will map crime ‘hotspots’ across the city in grids of 500 houses. And if the papers are correct, we will all be able to see where there are surges in crime across the capital through our own access to the information on the web.
Boston, New York and LA have all adopted this system, although I am not sure they have been so public about what it shows. I’ve seen it working and spoken to the police departments in both LA and Boston about its effectiveness. Although a step in the right direction, both the LA Police and the Boston Police will tell you that mapping and monitoring the levels of criminal activity across the capital using sophisticated software and responding to significant changes may help the police identify the areas where their intervention requires intensification but it is flawed if that is all they do to tackle crime across the city.
With senior officials in the police service here in the UK raising concerns about crime reduction tactics based on increasing custodial sentences and stop and search, modern policing in the capital and across the country for that matter needs ensure it considers all the lessons of the American way if it is to have an impact.
Let’s look at this a little further. Let’s assume the software is up and running and the mayors office, the police and others identify a surge in criminal activity in a particular area. What are they going to do?
More police, less tolerance of petty criminal activity, more stop and search? This is the old ‘get ‘em off the streets’ ‘quick win, sledgehammer to crack a nut’, macho fight against crime. And of course stop and search and increased custodial sentences make us all feel better. Less knives and less young people on the street must mean the problem of youth crime will go away? But does it?
Mapping crime in this way in the Boston and LA (and both police departments would be the first to admit this is not the silver bullet solution) needs a more creative response.
In Boston and LA the key exponents of this approach will tell you that there are three other key factors that need to sit alongside the mapping process. Firstly, a modern approach to beat policing that is based on a visible police presence built on community relationships - street teams that know their communities, the young people and the challenges they face and are not glued to the seats of their police cars.
Secondly, a recognition by the police that real, genuine and equal collaboration and partnerships with voluntary and community groups working across those neighbourhoods to help young people and their families make positive choices is absolutely essential. Giving young people and families the opportunity to access support and help through challenging times is much better than banging them up. In Boston and LA this is fundamental to the success of responding to identified hotspots and whilst they readily admit more can be done, the positive relationship police officers have with those agencies and organisations providing support in local communities goes far deeper than knowing the phone number of the local youth worker or gang exit project worker. It’s about a joint understanding that changing young peoples lives requires a more sophisticated approach that goes way beyond the simplicity of stop and search. Ok, prison is still the last resort. So, yes, map the hotspots, respond with police on the streets and ensure the collaboration with the organisations and agencies working in the community working with and for young people.
I did say though, that there were three elements to this. The final one is critical. The lesson learnt in the states is that all of this needs money. When funds were available to resource the community groups and the street police to respond to the needs of the young people identified, the system made progress and when those funds dried up and the community agencies and groups struggled, the whole system was jeopardised. Boris would be well advised to also spend some time mapping the community groups and agencies across the capital and commit long term resources to ensure their continued presence and expansion in local communities.
Yes map, in fact map as much as you can – information is clearly key to the progress in the states, but also invest in a celebrate the community based youth work solutions too.
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21 July 2008
A wider impact
by
Simon Antrobus
So, I reflect this week on the publication of the Government’s Youth Crime Action Plan. Another weighty document to read and another plan to deal with a big issue amidst an unhelpful furore in the media that would have us believe that every young person carries a knife in their pocket. As part of my chairmanship of a national inquiry into youth crime and gangs, I have spent time visiting a number of community based youth projects across the country over the last few weeks. Gangs, knives and guns are clearly an issue for some young people, and are undoubtedly the currency on some of our streets and communities. This point was put to me by workers and young people. They were clear -don’t underestimate the challenge young people face on the street, but also recognise that the ‘fashion and culture’ of the gangster is having an impact on every young person. We all know the transition from young person to adult is a tricky one – we’ve all experienced it! So whilst I sometimes lean towards the ‘this is an issue for a minority of young people’ – albeit a significant one, I also reflect on its wider impact.
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14 July 2008
We gotta clean up these streets
by
Simon Antrobus
It’s Monday morning and the prospect of another early train journey to London may well have affected my thinking, but as a look forward to another week of promoting the difference good youth work and positive activities can make for young people I find the papers talking about a different approach. I am acutely aware that a whole range of interventions are needed to support our young people, but some would have you believe it’s like the wild west out there now - they'll tell you gun slingin’ knife toting young people are running amok on every street corner. So much so, it’s out of control. 'We’re at a loss, we don’t know how to respond'.
I am not trying to deny that there is a problem with guns and knives, their clearly is and we need to do something about it. But, after reading the Sunday Times yesterday and the Guardian today I am deeply worried about the next set of interventions gathering pace to ‘clean up our streets’. I can’t believe for a minute that we truly want to rid our streets of young people with some Victorian purge that will leave young people unseen and unheard. And the most damming thing is that curfews only brush the problem under the carpet, they don’t deal with the deep rooted sense of isolation some of these young people feel. Curfews will only compound their sense that the adults in this country don’t really give a toss. Ok, some young people have committed violent crimes, they have behaved badly, unnecessarily ended life and caused families irreparable damage and we should respond robustly, but let’s not make the foolish mistake of assuming all young people - let alone all young people on the street are thugs. This is not an amoral generation. The majority of young people grow, develop and make the difficult transition to adulthood successfully. For a significant minority though this is not the case. For some this transition to responsible adult citizen is so much harder than we can begin to understand and a whole catalogue of issues need to be unpicked and explored before they can truly realise their potential. A trip to the hospital to see the impact of carrying a knife is ok as part of a package of support but many of these young people have already cradled their best friend in their arms after a brutal attack, a severe beating or a knifing and know only to well the impact a knife can have.
If we are serious about dealing with guns, knives and violence on our streets we need to work harder to understand why young people find themselves in this situation. We need to engage with them, provide services and support their parents not brush it under the carpet.
I wonder how much of the £100M supposedly in the Youth Crime Action Plan will go towards engagement and support, youth work and positive activities?
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02 July 2008
Summer Roadshows
by
Simon Antrobus
As the DCSF Youth Task Force summer road shows make their way across the country, the papers reflect on the tragic loss of another young life. The 17th young life lost as a result of knives and violence in the capital this year.
Any young life lost like this is undoubtedly a tragedy and is usually followed by condemnation and recrimination – calls to get tough on the young people that perpetrate these violent acts, to lock them up and through away the key. Robust action does need to be taken. Young people who engage in violence must be held responsible for what they do. They must account for their actions. I have written about this several times before. But the words of Ben Kinsella’s sister Brooke show signs of maturity and understanding way beyond the ability of many of our politicians, press and media. Her words recognise the personal responsibility we all have to make the streets a safer place for all of our children and young people.
Brooke speaks for the majority of young people in this country that, day in day out make positive contributions in their local communities as positive and responsible citizens working through the difficult transition to adulthood. She also speaks directly to young people about the need for them to put down their guns and weapons and to the parents to talk to their children and young people to encourage them to stop all this violence.
These are wise words, echoed by Mark Johnson author of Wasted in a recent article in the Guardian. If we are truly committed to stemming the flow of violence on our streets then we are going to have to deliver on Brooke’s request. We must re-engage those young people in our communities who feel so marginalised and unsafe that they carry weapons and perpetrate acts of violence. We need to move away from just talking about them and doing to them to talking to them and listening to what they have to say. Don’t get me wrong I know it’s not easy, but those in communities who are working with young people on the margins know that support, understanding and engagement are as equally important as enforcement and punishment and that we can turn troubled young lives.
Today I am with the DCSF Youth Task Force at their Bristol road show where I have been asked to speak to delegates about the contribution the voluntary sector and positive activities in particular can play to support young people to make positive choices in their communities rather than negative. The Youth Task Force action plan – in short emphasises the need for enforcement, non negotiable support and early intervention – good quality preventative youth work. The action plan focuses on the need to identify positive activities for young people in community based environments. Something that I have seen delivered extremely well by under resourced community groups and voluntary organisations across the length and breadth of the UK.
Looking at the delegate list, I am struck by how much the professional landscape has changed over the last ten years. Anti Social Behaviour Order Coordinators and Community Safety Officers are sitting alongside Community Development Officers and Youth Workers with mix of intervention, enforcement and prevention agendas. The seminar brings home to me how important it is that all of these professionals, alongside their democratically elected council leaders, politicians, the voluntary community sector, parents and families will need to take responsibility for enforcement, support and positive engagement of young people in our communities if we are to make progress.. It’s time to move beyond recrimination and blame and make all young people our number one priority.
After Bristol, I travel to Northamptonshire to visit an evening session of a young fire fighters scheme that demonstrates the excellent partnership between the fire service and the youth work experience of Clubs for Young People Northamptonshire. Dave the lead fire fighter at the station and his team demonstrate enormous commitment to the scheme and alongside Michelle the Youth Worker are making great progress with a range of young people, several who have been referred to the scheme because of particular challenges in their lives. The project will be used as a model for our recently agreed strategic partnership with the Youth Justice Board and demonstrates the power of positive activities and preventative work within the youth justice arena.
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