Story: Lisa Swift
For over a year the Vestry Hall has been a centre for youth work. It started out as an emergency response to the tragic death of a young man, Deeq Ali. Since then it has developed into a place where young men can think about their futures, access services and benefit from opportunities available to young people.
The Messenger went to speak to the young men using the project, some of them are involved in the steering group who help plan the work at the centre. We asked what difference it had made coming to the project:
“Before the Vestry Hall I didn’t know about any services, most of the time we used to chill outside. We would be smoking with the wrong people.”
“Now I do football on a Sunday, before I used to sleep all day and get high.”
“It’s easy to find people to talk to here. We’ve have got apprenticeships, people have made the right choice and are going to college.”
“There’s been a retail course, and people are getting employment. 5 people got jobs at TK Maxx”
“We learned they got a lot of money to give out, we met the guy in charge of the money, the steering group has put us up there.”
“I’ve been on the interview panel for appointing job and helped recruit new people for the project.”
The Vestry Hall project has been run with funding from the Home Office, through a partnership between local organisations Ellesmere youth Project (EYP), Yemeni Community Association (YCA) and alongside Sheffield Futures. But from March the funding will be spent, which means the project is at risk of closure. The young men spoke about what that could mean for them and other young people.
“This project could help a lot more people if it carries on. But if it closes there could be more violence and crime. Its not just about us but about the younger ones.”
“There’s a gap for the 11-16 year olds. They look up to the older ones, if we’re out on the street again, it won’t be good for them. It’s important that something is done for them.”
“We would be angry if it closed. You go to other areas and see how nice it is and then come here and look at it.”
Youth worker, Imran Ali, from EYP spoke about what difference the project had made in a short space of time:
“The best thing I’ve seen is the improved relationship across the community, between young people and parents and youth workers, there is trust there. If the project goes we’ll lose that relationship with 160 kids and that’s the biggest worry.”
YCA youth worker, Guleid Jama, has been with the project since the beginning, and has seen young people get better opportunities through the project.
“A lot of young people have got jobs or have gone back into education. Some have qualified as youth workers through this project. Many have stopped smoking. If the project closes now, young people will be back outside, and that’s bad"