Borough, Bankside and Walworth Youth Community Council and others contributors to speak about regeneration and young people.
Minutes:
Borough, Bankside and Walworth Youth Community Council
The chair introduced this item saying that the focus of this meeting was on regeneration, and on what young people’s views on this subject were.
Representatives of the Borough, Bankside and Walworth Youth Community Council (YCC) gave an update on their proposed pop-up shop in the Walworth Road which was going to provide workshops and activities for young people in the summer. They had also been exploring outreach work to food banks in the area.
Answering questions from the floor the representatives of the YCC said that the council had a youth community council structure, rather than a young mayor, as in some other boroughs. They would look into issues like sports and healthy living, and would like to see access to sports facilities for under 16s. There were fewer young men than women involved in the YCC, but they actively encouraged any young men to come forward and join the YCC.
A representative from the Creation Trust said that they had an empty shop unit on East Street which they would be happy for the YCC to use.
The chair thanked the representative of the BBWYC for attending. He and the vice-chair then presented the members of the YCC with certificates of achievement for attending and inputting into the community council meetings over the last year.
2Inspire
Tracey Franklin, youth programme manager for 2Inspire said that their main youth hub was in Wendover on the Aylesbury Estate, where they were running arts, dance, drama, media and radio workshops for 8 to 24-year-olds. There is also a youth employment project, a young parents project, and the “positive profile” awards for young people. Yannick, the young person’s work coordinator, explained that the organisation had successfully applied for funding and was providing support to young people from 16-25 not in employment, education or training (NEETS).
Responding to questions from the floor, Tracey and Yannick said that they promoted their service with publicity material, including flyers in shops. They held sessions at job centres and community centres, and also attended the youth employment programme in Peckham every week. The programme involved about 120 young people. The arts activities involved about 12 to 15 people per activity. 2Inspire were also happy to partner up with other organisations, like Creation Trust or XLP. They were always happy to have new volunteers, too.
B onsite
Val Lowman from the organisation explained that they were trying to get young people, especially young women into the construction industry.
Wahab, one of the young people who had been placed by the scheme, said that he had gone from sitting at home playing video games to working for a construction company on the Lendlease site, learning and earning at the same time. He said that working in construction was rewarding, and that he was going to university which his employer was paying for. Val said that there were jobs around, and that it was important for people to have a stake in the regeneration activity in the area.
Claire Stanhope, learning and development manager, told the meeting that the council’s apprenticeship scheme was also available. At the moment there were 100 apprentices in all parts of the council, the oldest of whom was 47. Apprentices were paid £15,000 per year, and supported to do a day-release to go to college. They were given a one-year contract, which could lead to permanent jobs with the council or one of the council’s partners.
For more information: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200432/apprenticeships/2589/apprenticeship_scheme
Mapping the Elephant
A representative of the group, told the meeting that the group consisted of nine people, plus himself. They had worked on a project mapping the Elephant and Castle area with a photographer and artists, and as part of this had worked with other groups, for example working in a poetry workshop. They had taken a study trip to Barcelona, comparing the issues of that city and the Elephant and Castle. He went on to emphasise the importance of using green spaces and rooftop allotments, as well as the importance of not creating gated communities, and having a more colourful area.
Responding to questions, he said that the outcomes of the project could be seen on the architecture foundation website, where the group’s blog was located. One of his favourite places in the area was Perronet House, because it looked amazing from the inside. He wanted to become an architect, and would prefer to design low-key buildings which the community could enjoy.
The chair thanked all the young people for attending and said their voices and views mattered to the council.
NOTE: At this point the meeting took a five-minute break, at the end of which Councillors Catherine Bowman and Abdul Mohamed joined the meeting.