When I stood for council at the May election I had two pressing ambitions for our town - the development of a Youth Hub, to give our young people somewhere to socialise, learn and get help and advice and the founding of a ‘Men’s Shed’ where men of all ages can meet, share skills and experiences - which is particularly important in a society where men typically find it more difficult to build social connections than women and rarely share personal concerns about health and personal worries.
One of the first things I learned was that money doesn't grow on magic money trees and there are a lot of hoops to jump through before we can even apply for grants and support.
The main lesson I have learned however is that if we want to make things happen and make things better, we pretty much have to do it ourselves,
After a lot of research I decided upon the most appropriate statutory vehicle and can now announce that Howden Action Group is now a registered Community Interest Company, giving us a legal entity to apply for charitable and local authority funding to get projects such as these off the ground.
Where are we going to start?
Howden has an ever-growing population and, with the exception of the work done by the Scouts, Guides and Howden AFC, we have virtually no dedicated facilities and organised activities for young people outside of school hours.
A recently published report for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport states:
‘There is a clear association between participation in youth provision and positive short-term outcomes relating to physical health and wellbeing, pro-social behaviours and education. There is also strong evidence that these short-term outcomes are sustained over decades and, compared with non-participants, people who attended youth clubs continue to score more highly for several of these indicators of wellbeing.’
Since lock down there has been a small, but noticeable increase in anti-social behaviour in our town which can, we believe, be largely put down to boredom and disengagement.
Our aim is to create a safe space for children and young people in Howden to meet friends, participate in activities and have fun, and to do this, we have to enable our young people to have their say as to, when, where, and what kind of activities they would like to experience.
Our first task is to run a three-month engagement programme with a senior detached youth worker, and, in conjunction with the local schools, run a peer-led research project to help us find our what kind of ‘Youth Hub’ the young people would like to have and to encourage participation and engender ownership of the project.
With the help of Howden Town Council and a Positive Activities Grant from ERYC we now have the funds in place to start this engagement programme!
Once operational, the Hub will help build the self-esteem and self-confidence of young people and develop their ability to manage personal and social relationships.
The aim is to employ a Senior Youth Support Worker whose role will be to support our young people, including carers and people at risk of offending. design and organise activity programmes and run projects that focus on issues like health, bullying, crime or drugs. and work with social workers, teachers, probation officers and the police.
The Youth Hub could be the home for many activities, and we will need to ensure the facilities are accessible and inclusive for all user groups.
Activities will be planned each week for different age groups ranging from 8 -16 years.
In addition, we will start a Special Needs Group, designed to develop confidence and teach social and life skills, this group who get together once a week to take part in a tailored programme of interests and activities.
The Hub will also look to encourage and support parallel activities, sporting, artistic & performance, in other venues in the town.
Benefits for the wider community- bridging the age gap
Two of the key effects of the Covid lockdown was a widening of the generational gap between our young people and the older generation, and the spotlight that fell on the levels of loneliness and marginalisation particularly felt by older men.
Our eventual aim is develop a ‘Community Campus’, centred around the Youth Hub. that gives spaces for people across the community to meet, interact and hopefully foster better understanding.
The first step in this ambition is to support the establishment of a ‘Men’s Shed’.
A Men’s Shed is a community space for men to connect, converse and create. The activities are often similar to those of garden sheds, but for groups of men to enjoy together.
The Men’s Shed movement has now become one of the most powerful tools in addressing health and wellbeing and helping men to become valued and productive members of our community.
With the Youth Hub and the Men’s Shed sharing the same campus we would hope to bring the two groups closer together, sharing skills, ideas and experiences and building a greater mutual understanding. What do we need?
We need to engage the whole town to make this work - individuals, organisations, groups and businesses.
We need to recruit directors to help oversee and manage the organisation and to undertake scrutiny and statutory responsibilities. We also would like to recruit members from throughout the community to promote and grow the company and its aims.
We are particularly interested in talking to anyone who has experience in youth work and might be interested in helping build this project from the ground up.
Similarly we would welcome anyone who is interested in the concept of the Men’s Shed and would like to take up the challenge of joining a working group to help us deliver this project.
Finally, we would like to invite all voluntary groups and charities operating in our town to join the group, as directors or as individual members, to establish a ‘big tent’ of caring, working together for the benefit of the town.
What can you do?
Initially - just get in touch!
We are planning a very informal launch event in the next few weeks, starting with a brief outline of the CIC structure and aims, and what becoming a director or member will entail.
This will be followed by a short presentation about the plans we have in place so far for a Youth Engagement project, the establishment of a Youth Hub and the development of a Men’s Shed initiative.
The rest of the evening will be a ‘big circle’ discussion where people are invited to talk about their own organisations and projects, share their thoughts about what we could all be doing, or doing better, and seek out other projects and initiatives that Howden Action Group could undertake or support with the aim of ‘Making Howden an even better place to live’
If you are interested in joining us please drop me a direct message, email me at howdenactiongroup@gmail.com or give me a call on 07774 729096.
I look forward to hearing from you
Thanks
David Howard
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