Canada Water Campaign

Briefing note on Youth Involvement

This short paper seeks to outline the opportunities for youth involvement in the Canada Water regeneration process, the projects which are already in place, and news about youth work/projects in the wider area. Both the council and the consultative forum have identified youth involvement in the Canada Water regeneration as a priority.

A project is currently underway with Bede House. Young people from the different clubs Bede run have been invited to take part in a course in graffiti art. The course will run over five sessions, the third of which (22.9.01) will be an intensive day looking at Canada Water. The project worker and myself see this as an initial step, which should lead to further projects as the regeneration continues.

Bosco have expressed interest in a similar project, using mosaic as the medium. Further information will be available at the forum meeting.

These projects will act as a pilot. After they have been completed and assessed further projects will be developed, and the council youth clubs will be asked to take part.

I have suggested to the youth representatives on the forum that together we develop a project whereby we devise an interview prompt sheet, which they will use to interview people they know. They will then encourage the people they interview to take copies and interview a further five people, and so on. This will ensure the youth reps do not compromise their safety interviewing people they don’t know, and has the potential to bring in a range of qualitative responses. At the time of writing I am awaiting confirmation from the reps, and will provide an up-date at the forum.

It has been suggested that a youth forum would be an appropriate way to progress. Unfortunately, with the resources available it would be unlikely to be effective. However, a group of local councillors have been looking into the possibility of establishing a youth forum in the peninsula as a whole. I have approached them, and if they manage to get the forum up and running, they are happy to incorporate discussions on the Canada Water regeneration.

During my initial conversations with Bede and Bosco, the workers there suggested they would be willing to run projects similar to small scale short term forums. The advantage would be that the projects would demand a limited input from myself (noting that I am 0.5 time on Canada Water), thereby enabling increased youth involvement. The youth workers objective would be to teach young people about local decision-making, and equip them with the skills and confidence to take part in committees. Both organisations suggested that they would need access to the forum, and asked if it would be possible to rotate the youth rep function between youth groups and interested individuals. The idea was put to the consultative forum youth reps, who whilst agreeing it was a good idea felt that the terms of reference for the forum would not allow it.

Due to public concern about youth crime and gangs, there have been a number of formal inter-agency discussions and initiatives in the peninsula recently. I assisted at an event organised by councillors and youth workers. The aim was to raise awareness of local facilities near to The Blue, and to ask young people what other facilities they’d like to have available. The findings will be fed back to the forum.

There has been a lot of concern about the activities of some young people at Russia Dock Woodlands. A meeting is being held to look into the issue, which I will be attending as an observer. An up-date will be given at the forum.

A number of people have been asked to join a Youth Topic Paper sub-group, further information will be available at the forum.

Pascale Rosenbloom

Community Involvement Co-ordinator

17.09.01 CWCF meeting