Creating Community Conversations - Gallomanor

Nobody expects the Youth Inquisition

Yesterday Sophia and I were at the Wellcome Trust presenting and being interviewed as part of our bid for 2 years funding on I'm a Scientist, Get me out of Here.

The committee consisted of 6 very intelligent and experience people and they asked searching questions.  It reminded me of a story from the early days of YouthBank in Norfolk.  YouthBank provided grants to young people allocated by young people.  It was quite a leap of faith by the council there to delegate the responsibility for this money to non-adults.  The faith was repaid and then some.  The feedback from observers was that young people questioned the applicants far more thoroughly than adults did and were much more discerning about what they would fund.  Perhaps adults tended to patronise young people, or perhaps they had become blasé about the process.  

So it was great, but not surprising, to read on Jenny Chamberlin's Diss & Roydon Blog that the latest £25,000 Participatory Budgeting exercise from Broadland District Council involves SHOUT Youth Council.  The Youth Council have chosen the topics (Preventing Youth Homelessness, Places to go and things to do for young people, Challenging negative perceptions of young people) and will shortlist the bids that go forward to the public meeting that decides where the money goes.

It is a fantastic reversal of the usual power structures and an opportunity that I expect the SHOUT Youth Council will take very seriously.  Let hope someone shares their experience from the project.

Young People and Politics on Radio One

Last night on The Surgery, Radio One dedicated an hour to talking about young people and politics. 

Much of what was said reflects the experience we have through I'm Councillor in that young people do care about issues but not party politics.  A lack of clear information and good communication from politicians were major obstacles to a positive view of politics.

A couple of callers suggested setting up a party for young people.  A misguided view in my opinion as it assumes young people are all alike and that certainly isn't the case.

Votes at 16 had pretty much unanimous support as you'd expect.

Towards the end of the show they had a fellow called Shane McCracken on to talk about an online event that gets young people and their councillors talking (Politics conversation starts at one hour and my bit was at 1:46).  The event is called I'm a Councillor, Get me out of here!  Sounds interesting ;-)

Discrimination against young people happens, and it's not on

"The provisions will not cover people under 18. It is right to treat children and young people differently, for example through age limits on alcohol consumption, and there is little evidence of harmful age discrimination against young people." [my italics]

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality

The Equality Bill was published on Monday. One of it's provisions is to outlaw age discrimination for those over 18. As the quote from Harriet Harman indicates, the government have assumed that young people aren't affected by age discrimination, so we didn't need to bother about them.

In I'm a Councillor we see thousands of questions, and tens of thousands of lines of chat, from a broad spectrum of young people. It's very clear from this that young people are often discriminated against, and that it makes many feel marginalised and excluded from society. If shops had signs that said, 'only two black people in this shop at any time' we'd be outraged (and quite rightly). But no-one bats an eyelid at similar signs about school children.

Young people are frequently treated with suspicion by adults and excluded from public spaces. Shopkeepers follow them round the shop or exclude them. Old ladies cross the road to avoid them and glare at them as if they are muggers. They get hassled by police and moved on just for hanging around a street corner doing nothing, when there's few other places for them to go. Police officers routinely order them to remove their hoods. Remember, nearly all of these young people are as blameless as you and I.

Being constantly distrusted and harrassed, with no recourse, no way of saying, 'that isn't fair', just because you are young, has to affect young people's happiness and sense of belonging. I can't help thinking that those years of exclusion do not lead to healthy, happy, balanced adults, or a healthy, happy, cohesive society.

I've had conversations with people in other professions who have no idea of the kind of thing that happens to young people, or the way they feel about it. Sometimes they just don't believe me. That's not that surprising, we live in an age-segregated society and there are few young people's voices in the mainstream.

But I would have thought that the Government Equalities Office would be a little bit more informed on the matter. And if they didn't know about it, you'd think they would try to find out - like maybe ask the Children's Rights Alliance, or the Children's Commissioner.

It's not really good enough to say 'there is little evidence', when what you mean is, you assumed there isn't and so you didn't look for it. Especially when you are drafting a wholesale overhaul of equalities legislation in the country.

Fortunately, the Young Equals coalition have stepped up to the plate and today published their report, 'Making the case: why children should be protected from age discrimination and how it can be done' (pdf). They give some of the evidence the Equalities Office missed about discrimination against young people, and what can be done about it. We commend their report to you and hope that the government listens.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons, Claire L. Evans

Meet London's Ambassador for young people

James Cleverly has been appointed Ambassador for young people in London. It's a high profile job and it will be a difficult job. 

I've met James and I remember his energy, optimism, good cheer and willingness to help others.  He'll do well.  Congratulations to you James.  Good luck.

How are young people using Social Media

I missed the UK Youth Online unconference at the weekend.  Well done to Tim Davies for pulling it off.

How are young people using social media?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social networking youth)

Steph Gray shared these findings from research commissioned by DIUS.  It's notable for a couple of reasons:

1. it's useful research that provides robust figures rather than anecdotal evidence
2. he's posted it on SlideShare.net which means that I can pass it on to you without either of us being at a conference or visiting a corporate government site and wading through a bunch of press releases to find it.

Thank you Steph.

Volunteer? Do us a Favour

It seems the well-intentioned agency V has realised the Volunteering is off-putting.  (Why oh why did they not work that out before spending £000's branding themselves as V?)  66% of young people thought so.  Whereas 80% of young people have done favours for others. Therefore they are launching a new campaign called Favours.  And the

"projects on offer through V address issues that resonate with the individual interests of young people, such as music, design, art, sport and fashion."

At last.  Recognition that most people don't volunteer for the sake of it, they do things because they are interested in doing them and don't expect to be paid for doing so.

Well done. Finally.

(h/t CYPNow)

Gangs aren't like what we thought

Just in time for the government's new youth crime plan, comes fascinating research from Manchester University, who've taken the trouble to work closely with young people involved in gangs. What they've found challenges the picture normally painted of gangs, suggesting that the police approach is 'fatally flawed' and risks pushing young people into the arms of gangs.

The researchers (lead by Judith Aldridge and Juanjo Medina), found that gangs were not highly organised drug-dealing operations.

"In reality, gangs are loose, messy changing friendship networks less organised and criminally active than widely believed with unclear, shifting and unstable leadership."

(Podcast, and Guardian coverage here)

Know your limits

That's the name of the latest Home Office campaign to reduce binge drinking amongst 18 – 24 year olds, but it could equally apply to advertising.  Looking at the murkiness beyond the glare of the window, the agency really should have employed a specialist window dresser.

A pair of TV adverts launched on Tuesday night during Big Brother appropriately depicting a young man and woman getting ready for a night out by spreading puke in hair, ripping clothes, banging heads and kicking hi-fis. Not a badly executed ad, but I question the efficacy of using TV advertising to influence behaviour of people whilst they are under the influence of something else. 

I was told that online was going to be a big part of the campaign.  So far all I can see is the "viral" video which has been viewed plenty of times but has attracted some criticism in comments.  A website for the campaign and any sign of the posters promised is lacking.

I can't see this working.

In Sweden they took a different approach. They realised that telling young what not to do whilst drunk was not going to work.  They accepted that for most people drinking alcohol was fun but that drinking too much wasn't.  So they produced guides to getting drunk, but not too drunk.  Cards were handed out telling people how to identify signs of getting to the optimum levels of inebriation and gave advice on how to stay at that level rather than going beyond into oblivion and beyond.  What a superb idea.  Acknowledging the truth and giving the young people the choice to take the advice in a mature way.

A 15 year old told me recently that he'd once gone out and downed a bottle of vodka , but it left him so sick that he doesn't drink that much vodka any more. He found his limit.  He didn't need someone telling him what it was.  Perhaps if it had been Absolut it would've had one of the Swedish guides attached and saved him a hangover from hell.

In the traditional of Ideal Government, wouldn't it be better if (WIBBI) the money was spent enforcing the licensing laws which forbid a pub selling drink to someone who is already intoxicated. [Licensing Act 2003, Section 141]  Local authorities are responsible for issuing licences to serve alcohol but as far as I am aware they are loath to withdraw licences from big chains because they cannot afford the legal fees when the big chains appeal.  If a community wants to stop anti-social behaviour caused by a bar then the council should have the confidence and ability to remove the licence.

I asked Lydia Fitzpatrick from the Home Office team just how many licences had been revoked for serving intoxicated customers in the past year.  Perhaps she could also clarify how many fines were issued under Section 141 of the 2003 Act and what percentage that represents of estimated incidents of binge drinking.  She promised to get back to me and since online is going to be an important part of the campaign I guess she'll pick up on this post and give us an answer in the comments section.

PS I know the picture is so dark you can't see the display.  I said to the team behind not to worry because at night, when drinkers are around, it would be more visible.  I was told that at night it would shut down because they didn't want to get in drinker's faces???  But the good news is that the displays will be made available to Local Authorities if they want to use them.

UPDATE:  There is a microsite at: http://wouldyou.direct.gov.uk.  No interaction, nothing downloadable, not contacts information, but there is a site.

Only 29% of youth workers have access to social web

Tim Davies has co-authored a report for the National Youth Agency about Youth Work and Social Media (pdf, 811kb).  It is an interim report so I hope someone accelerates the funding and allows him to press the pedal to the metal and get it finished because if only 29% of youth workers are able to access social media in a work setting they are seriously hampered in doing their job.

Social media was blamed for for some of the suicides in Bridgend and with report after report highlighting the dangers of networking sites, I find it amazing that 71% of youth workers can't access these sites at work. 

Web search promotes suicide?

The British Medical Journal has published (behind a payment firewall) a report saying that suicide is promoted on the web.  There are the usual calls for Internet Service Providers to

"pursue strategies that would maximise the likelihood that sites aimed at preventing suicide are sourced first."

Paul Canning has written at length and incisively about the story.  He points out his searches on suicide, and how to commit suicide generally don't encourage the act.  He also points out quite rightly that instead of complaining the charities should be doing what they can to promote the supportive sites.  Just like I have done with the links in the sentence above. 

Incidentally, Marjorie Wallace of Sane hasn't got a leg to stand on.  Search for suicide on the SANE website (click on image below) and you simply get a bunch of research and lobbying.  Not the page they have produced to help prevent suicides.

UPDATE:

The British Medical Journal has now released the full report.