Burngreave’s Youth Council is on the verge of becoming a reality, with young people already involved in the early stages of its establishment.
The idea has been talked about for three years or more.
Now October has been set as the month for elections to the Council.
The first attempts to create a Council of young people were made by the Listen To Us youth project. New Deal took up the idea as something important and when investing half a million pounds into youth project, Streetworx, it made the Youth Council a top priority.
We went to speak to the Shadow Youth Council, who are making decisions about how the Youth Council will be set up.
The Chair, Jihad, and Vice-Chair, Mohamed, explained that the Shadow Youth Council has been established for two months and has at present twenty members — thirteen male and seven female.
They meet at All Saints Youth Centre.The main aim of the Youth Council is to help young people help themselves by seeking to assist young people into further and higher education and training.
They currently have members from the Somali, Yemeni, African- Caribbean and white communities. When asked what needs to be done in Burngreave for young people, both Jihad and Mohamad agreed that improvements have been made in the area, for example crime rate reduction, but there is lack of support provision for young people who are isolated and in need of support with decisions regarding education and training.
The Youth Council would be a forum for developing young people’s ideas and a platform the young people of Burngreave.
“The Youth Council will be the voice of young people, so we can influence how money is spent on us,” Jihad told us.
They said more activities need to be happening; but aside from sports, recreational and leisure activities, the Youth Council aim to focus on wider issues such as training and education, as a number of young people seem excluded and bored with traditional activities.
Jihad said:
“Young people need support to do training or apprenticeships, it’s difficult to be motivated, but if other young people are there to encourage you it’s easier.”
Mohammed explained:
“We want there to be better activities, but it’s more than that. Activities can be combined with training so we can ‘enjoy while we learn’.”
Streetworx Manager, Zain Abdulla, said:
“Members of the Youth Council will take up seats on decision-making bodies, such as the Area Panel, the New Deal Board and the Council’s Children and Young People’s Directorate. They can then be part of the decisions that will affect them.They will also be fundraising for their own activities, so they can take control of what they are involved in.”
by Asma Ali & Lisa Swift
Get involved…
The Shadow Youth Council is meeting monthly. Young people aged 14–24 can get involved. Contact Zain Abdulla on 0792 149 1540.