A 2013 study by Save the Children showed the impact the current economic climate is having on children and young people:
- One in eight of the UK’s poorest children are going without hot meals
- 15 per cent of children living in poverty go without new shoes when they outgrow their old ones
- 14 per cent go without a winter coat
- 15 per cent of children living in poverty have given up asking their parents for things as this would put their parents under more pressure
- 25 per cent are missing out on schools trips because their parents cannot afford them
- 29 per cent can’t have their friends round for tea because their parents cannot afford it
- 80 per cent of parents are using debt to fund essentials.
The cuts to youth service provision couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
Yet there is hope. There is always hope. In 2000, the number of youth workers employed by faith-based organisations began to outnumber the total linked to local authorities, and this has continued ever since. This is big news; while councils have cut back on youth services, faith-based youth work persists. In the April 2016 issue of Premier Youthwork, Naomi Thompson wrote about how we might partner with existing organisations and councils to support the statuary youth sector – do read it. But in some places it may feel like cuts have hit so hard that there is no one left to partner with. Also, working with young people, you might be the best placed to see the needs and gaps for young people. So what will you do about it?
History repeats itself
In the 1840s the industrial revolution was going, literally, full steam ahead. People were being drawn to the cities, looking for employment in this newly-mechanised world. When not at work, there weren’t many ‘social’ options beyond the pub or the brothel. What was needed was an alternative activity, so George Williams set up a prayer and Bible study group, which attracted men from across London. It was called the Young Men’s Christian Association or YMCA. Soon after it launched, the YMCA began to address other issues facing the young men working in cities. Education classes were developed and reading rooms and refreshment areas were founded to help young men adjust to urban life.
With the increasing population in London, housing conditions worsened: poverty and disease were rife. Cholera swept through the East End, killing 3,000 people and leaving many families destitute. Thomas Barnardo had decided to become a medical missionary in China and so set out for London in 1866 to train as a doctor at a hospital in Whitechapel. Moved by what he saw in the East End – children sleeping on roofs and in gutters – he decided to devote himself to helping destitute children. In 1870 he setup a home for boys living on the streets and later a girls’ home too. While they don’t operate children’s homes any more, Barnardo’s is one of the UK’s leading children’s charities, working directly with over 200,000 children, young people and their families every year.
Paddy and Carol were working for a UN feeding programme in Bulgaria. Moved by the plight of the children they met at the central railway station, they set up a trust to improve their conditions. While raising funds for the trust back home in Salisbury, Paddy received a call from a desperate local mother saying, ‘My children are going to bed hungry tonight, what are you going to do about it?’ After further investigation, Paddy was shocked by the number of local people facing short term hunger as a result of a sudden crisis. Based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 (‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’), Paddy started Salisbury Foodbank in his garden shed and garage which provided three days’ worth of emergency food to local people in crisis. The Trussell Trust now run a network of over 400 Foodbanks across the UK.
The experiment
None of these people set out to start big organisations. Instead they were responding to what they saw around them. There is a history of people of faith who are moved to action by what they see going on around them. Sisters Rosie and Charlotte have set up a new project in Highworth.
Rosie: Last year I felt God say to me, ‘Put your confidence in me’. A few weeks later I found out that my job was no longer being funded. As part of my previous role, I’d helped the local youth club staff one of their nights. They’ve now dropped their provision to one night a week and it’s mainly the more challenging young people who go there. A few years ago, the council ran a listening project to hear the views and opinions of the local people. People felt that there should be more done for young people in the area.
What’s holding you back?
Unfortunately it’s sometimes too easy to see the need. When our hearts break for a cause and we are moved by compassion to want to do something, sometimes there’s a voice inside us that fears and doubts and asks the question, ‘who are you to do that?’. Moses heard those voices. He had been speaking to God directly through the burning bush and God chose Moses to be the one to lead his people out of slavery. Yet even when directly instructed by God, Moses’ reply was, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’.
Regardless of who you are and what you want to do, fear will always try to make you see yourself as unqualified. Jon Acuff has written several books on how to do work that really matters. He talks of his dad’s outlook on life: ‘Here is how my dad (and now I) answer when life asks us the question, have you ever done that before? No, but I’m about to.’
Rosie: There’s a local café which has a basement that I thought could be a great venue for a youth café. I approached the proprietor to talk about the possibility of starting something. He said that it was funny that I’d asked because the council had asked a similar thing. I thought that the council with all of their clout and money were sure to take over this basement. After a few days, I had a call from the council who had heard that I was interested in setting something up and they asked if I would head it up. We started in November 2015 and now run a youth café two nights a week and we’re looking to set it up as a charity. We are also starting to look for a new venue as we’re out growing this one.
Experiment yourself
Setting up something new can be daunting but there are lots of people and resources to help. The first step is to spend time listening to both God and to your community. Surround yourself with others who will also spend time listening to God for you and your plans. Be prepared for him to answer you in mysterious ways.
Listening to the community can be undertaken in a number of ways. A comprehensive start is to write a community profile. A community profile gathers both facts and opinions of the local community and can be used to justify the needs of the community and gain a deeper insight into gaps between people and services. There are many online resources that can guide you through writing one.
Starting something new can be a lonely task. Surround yourself with people, both faith-based and those from the wider community, who will support you. You may also want to join a community of likeminded people. The Frontier Youth Trust (fyt.org. uk) can provide people and projects with the guidance they need to get started, from practical issues such as polices and governance, to a community of passionate youth workers that have been there before and will offer help and advice.
If you are thinking of starting a social enterprise (and even if you are not), UnLtd (unltd.org.uk/socialentrepreneurshiptoolkit) have a great toolkit to help you think through your idea. While you may be excited and want to get going as soon as possible, thinking though your idea and the implications it might have on other areas of your life and strategising a way forward are really useful activies.
Dylan Barker is the resources manager for StreetSpace and Frontier Youth Trust
