Youth zone

[LuciGrace]

Hi everyone, I am an auntie to a 7 year old little boy and a godmother to a 4 year old little boy and with such a rise in crime recently it scares me to think what they will be experiencing on their way home from school, to school or even over the park, when I was growing up I could go to a club where I made friends for life and it kept me out of trouble so I am currently exploring how to go about setting up a Youth Zone specifically for secondary school students. With a drastic rise in crime around the country and little funding going towards support for young people, I think it is vital that there is somewhere where young people can go to have fun safely and to stay off the streets. As part of my exploration I was hoping you lovely parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents would be able to tell me- what do you think should be offered to young people within a youth centre to keep them engaged and interested and would be more appealing to young people than hanging around on the the streets and potentially "with the wrong crowds". By all means ask the children within your lives and please offer any feedback to me as it would be greatly appreciated. Currently I have a handful of individuals who would be willing to come in and teach the kids some professional skills by qualified professional people such as beauty and game concepts and designs. Any recommendations would be appreciated even if it is about suggestions about pricing or location or services etc. Thank you in advance

this is a fantastic idea. my ds (13) said that he would like boxing, and a place to play video games. all the best and good luck! xx

There's one in my area, this is the organisation that runs it if it gives you any ideas ? They run several and they're very popular.
www.onsideyouthzones.org/

Hair, and make-up.
Table football.
Modern dance.
Cooking.
Computer skills.

I think part of the problem is making it "cool" enough for teens to want to attend.

Well, what a teenager wants to do, is going to depend on the teenager.

Do you have any training ? Youth work, special needs awareness? Safeguarding ? First Aid ? Food Hygiene ?

How will it be funded ? Even if you are doing it as a voluntary / community service, there will be overheads in terms of renting the space, consumables, staff training, set up costs etc.

There used to be a lot of this sort of thing, until the Tories cut all the funding for it. How would you plan to fund yours? Bear in mind that the kids who need it most are the ones least able to pay.