How urban art cuts antisocial conduct
Jo Stephenson
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Art project reduces antisocial behaviour while promoting positive activities for young people.
Project
TagDog
Purpose
To reduce antisocial behaviour and nuisance dog issues, and promote positive activities for young people
Funding
An initial pilot was funded by a £23,000 grant from the Home Office's Community Action Against Crime Innovation Fund, with £8,000 match funding from housing association AmicusHorizon. The programme now costs £24,000 a year to run and is funded mainly by AmicusHorizon with some sponsorship from businesses.
Background
During one of AmicusHorizon's neighbourhood walkabouts on a Lambeth estate, residents raised concerns about antisocial behaviour, especially graffiti and nuisance dog issues.
Meanwhile, young people had also approached the housing association saying they would like something to do. The solution was TagDog. "We decided to flip things around and look upon young people's interest in graffiti, or urban art and looking after animals, as a positive thing and something that could be built on in terms of learning and development and career pathways," says William Miller, community development director at AmicusHorizon.
Action
TagDog launched in March 2012. It was developed in collaboration with young people who talked about what they would like from the scheme with an outreach worker. Capitalising on young people's interest in urban art and their pets, activities have included working with urban artists, trips to see urban art around the capital and designing posters to promote the project and responsible dog ownership.
The scheme has also worked closely with Battersea Cats and Dogs Home to offer young people training in handling their pets.
Aimed at 12- to 16-year-olds, it runs in tandem with another AmicusHorizon initiative called Motiv8, for those aged 17 and 18, which helps young people into education, employment and training. "TagDog is a great way of getting young people interested and they can then move on to Motiv8," says Miller, who has seen young people's confidence and self-esteem climb as a result of taking part in TagDog.
The project has since been established in the London Borough of Croydon.
Outcome
Since TagDog started, antisocial behaviour and dog nuisance no longer feature among residents' key concerns. Neighbourhood satisfaction levels in the estates in Lambeth where TagDog operates have improved from 85 per cent in March 2012 to 96 per cent in March 2013.
Government statistics for the area show crime has reduced by about 3.6 per cent between March 2011 and February 2013, and antisocial behaviour has reduced by 7.5 per cent.
Many of the older participants in TagDog join Motiv8. This year, AmicusHorizon trained 47 young people through Motiv8 and nearly 96 per cent progressed into jobs, further education or work placements.
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