There has been a lot of coverage post the August riots about young people and the clamour both from the news media and politicians that has fuelled the predictable demonisation of young people in the wake of the riots. Clearly some of the acts during the events can't be condoned but what can be said is, that the reality is that you can say it wasnt reflective of young people generally.
Ironically the outcries and sweeping generalisations and political conclusions drawn and highlighted in the media, potentiallu will only serve to add to the feeling amongst young people that decision makers only see the anti-social behaviour of a small minority and fail consistently to highlight positive social behaviour!
This is particularly relevant to us at Solar Learning, as in the week after the riots we held our 2nd annual Urban Games & Hip Hop event in Whitley Bay North Tyneside. This was a youth led event put on by young people, for young people and the wider community. In the end it attracted around 8000 spectators over the weekend, but more importantly it involved around 100 volunteers, 200+ performers and competitors and was as diverse an event in terms of ages, social background and ethnicity as you could wish for!
It had me thinking to, when some of the free runners involved in the Parkour Jam at the Urban Games recently showcased what they do at Newcastle Mela, as I chatted to a coach from England Cricket who was at the Mela and was watching in awe at some of the things the Parkour group were doing, I explained that for our organisation we are about getting young people onto the streets but in a productive way! It felt like that could be a new tagline, the urban games-getting young people onto the streets.
I raise it because it has been a long held phrase in terms of work around anti-social behaviour has been to "get kids off the streets", which I can see the intention in terms of avoiding or addressing the issue, but the reality, something that has been raised post the riots, is that with the reduction and devaluing over a number of years now in youth services and youthwork and the struggle that organisations like Solar Learning have to generate sustainable resources, despite being innovative and good at delivering outcomes, projects like our need to be cherished, nurtured and supported.
Because its to easy to say lets get kids off the streets, we all do it, when in truth short of investment in new youth facilities, we need to invest in work that can be done on the streets with young people that challenges them constructively to enact positive social behaviour!
For a video from Urban Games 2011 made by the young people's media team got to our website homepage
http://www.solarlearning.org.uk/
