PERFORMANCE AND IMPROVEMENT PLAN OBJECTIVE 9
INVOLVING YOUNG PEOPLE
1.   Background

 

1.1 The Borough Council's performance and                  improvement plan 2001/02 sets the following objectives;

 

Young People will be encouraged to make an impact on the Council's future policies and development through the youth Forum
To find innovative ways to encourage young people to be involved in the community and help shape the future of the Borough.
1.2 This committee has received a presentation on engaging young people and has been addressed by the Shrewsbury and Atcham member of the Youth Parliament.

 

1.3 This report sets out the work that will be undertaken during 2002 to continue to deliver the Council's objectives.

 

 2.   Research findings.

 

2.1 The most recently published research on engaging with young people is the result of work undertaken by the Guinness Trust Group working in partnership with the Centre for Social Action. This research which has been running since 1997 in both rural and urban areas has identified 6 key issues for young people.

 

Young People are frequently excluded from decision making in their Community
Despite this they are often fully aware of the information, resources, advice and help they need to move towards independence and adulthood
Their previous encounters with adult run services have often been non-productive and inappropriate
Where they have been involved in decision making their involvement has often been tokenistic and has made them disillusioned and cynical
Young people have the time, talent, energy and potential to create their own resources in negotiation with the adult community
Their skills can be unlocked through a process of training, engagement and practice, facilitated by an experienced worker.
2.2 The research then went on to look at how these issues can be addressed and the potential of young people harnessed.

 

2.3 Generally it was found that success was achieved when the approach taken was a) action focussed and b) locally based. Committee meetings and similar structures more familiar in adult decision making processes where seen as a turn off by young people as it imposed a decision making model that was not their own nor one familiar to their patterns of social interaction

 

2.4 The research therefore proposed a five-stage social action process to engage young people.

 

1 What are the issues, concerns, problems facing young people.

 

After talking and listening to young people in the places they like to be- favoured street corners, playgrounds and so on, set up a place and time to meet for talking and listening further. This could be a community centre, church or village hall, an out of doors venue such as a place in a park or someone’s living room or office
At this meeting use a variety of interactive tools to explore issues, concerns and problems.
2  Why do the problems and concerns exist

 

Having helped the young people express what they see as key issues, they need help to analyse why these issues are a problem. Their judgement forms the basis of subsequent work.
Often it will be found that young people will have a profoundly different interpretation of events than older community members and it is important that these views are not dismissed.
3  How can we change things

 

a)  The young people will then need help to set out their agenda for improving things. Once they have established what they want to change, they need to test out the best means to achieve their aims.

 

b)  For change to be effective it must be decided upon and put into action by the appropriate community members- the young people. This could often be the first time the young people have tried to take power themselves and therefore they will at times choose inappropriate methods and tactics to achieve change. They need to be helped to maintain momentum and to break big problems into manageable tasks. It is important however that things aren't done for them or to them, or on their behalf. They must originate and control the ideas, issues, analysis, planning and the next stage action.

 

4  Action

 

a) The young people will need to be provided with a means for them to think through their agreed course of action, but ownership of the project should remain with the young people.

 

5  Reflection.

 

After each action create a forum for reflection which allows young people to review what worked and what didn't work, why it didn't work and how it can be improved. Then begin the process again.
2.5  This process, which has been shown to work, throws up some key directional pointers for the Borough Council as it seeks to engage better with young people.

 

Engagement will not come in Committees but in the places young people want to be.
Issues and actions may be very different to those believed to be the priority of the Council
Delivery of projects for young people, breaks the social engagement projects need to be managed by young people.
3.  Where do we go from here?

 

3.1 Change will not happen overnight and any knee jerk reaction is likely to be tokanistic. We have started to put into place the resources needed to begin a process of real social engagement with young people. We need to give resources, people, time and money to the process.

 

3.2 The Borough Council has recently appointed a Community Development Officer (Steve Cunningham). This officer has started the process of engaging with young people on their home ground. He has found that in Shrewsbury (as is probably the case everywhere) that young people are very territorial and their primary concerns are concerns affecting their neighbourhood or locality. One officer cannot hope to engage with young people in all neighbourhoods and therefore a targeted approach will be needed.

 

3.3 The Shrewsbury and Atcham Community Safety Partnership has recently agreed to the appointment of a young peoples worker who's principle job description is To make contact with young people between the ages of 13 – 18 years old either individually or as part of groups in their own areas, and to develop relationships with them to identify their needs. The post will be based at the Borough Council and will be funded by the Regional Government for three years.

 

3.4 The Government announced last year, increased resources for developing youth work for young people through the Transforming Youth Work Development Fund. This money directed towards the Youth Services can be used to develop and introduce youth work projects with particular emphasis on projects designed to enhance the engagement of young people in local democratic processes. The Youth Service is currently developing a Youth Services Plan and it is important that officers and members feed into the development of this plan.

 

3.5 It is vital that the Community officers of the Borough Council work with the County Youth Service and good working relationships have already been made and will continue to develop.

 

3.6 The Borough Council Community Initiatives Grants are open to anyone. The flexibility of this grant, particularly the fact that there is no requirement for matched funding makes it a good resource for young people to obtain funding to develop for themselves actions that they want to achieve.

 

4.  Next Steps.

 

Adopt the Social Action Process as the model for engagement with young people
Appoint the young persons worker
Work with the voluntary agencies, councillors and social activists to identify people who can become Social Action Workers.
Train workers, stakeholders and key individuals in the Social Action Process
Start to meet young people who want to be involved
Introduce project to parents and community members
Identify important issues with young people
Produce a report/video with young people and present to interested parties (this committee?) and discuss implications
Continue with why and how stages of the process. Produce a final report with young people and present.
Enable young people to draw up action plans. Including help with obtaining permissions and funding bids.
Support the young people to deliver the actions
Consult the wider community on the action and feedback to the young people
Evaluate and restart the process.
5. Resources.

 

5.1  The Borough Council will soon have two people in post wit specific remits to engage with the community. These officers can act as facilitators and enablers, identifying and supporting volunteers, Councillors and social activists to learn and apply the Social Action Process in their communities.

 

5.2  Some resources can be made available through the Community development budget for training and support. Direct action on the ground will however require additional funding and it is anticipated that the Community Initiates Grant will be used as a key source of that funding.

 

6.  Action for Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

6.1 To support the Adoption of the Social Action Process as the model of good practice for engaging with young people.

 

6.2 To continue to send out positive messages of support and encouragement to young people and to act as the champions for the engagement with young people within the council’s decision making process.

 

6.3 To participate, where commitments allow, at an individual member level in the Social Action Process, with support and assistance from officers.

 

Andy Goldsmith

 

Housing and Environment Strategy Manager

 

For further information on this report please contact Andy Goldsmith on 01743 281017