A 30-year career in the fast-paced food industry means Kathryn Morley is well versed in the need to respond quickly to a rapidly changing set of circumstances. The chief executive of OnSide has had to draw on her business experience over the past nine months as the 14 youth zones that the charity runs adapted how they worked during the pandemic lockdowns. OnSide established its first youth zone in Carlisle in 2011 and its latest opened in Manchester last September. Funded jointly by local authorities and private backers, these state-of-the-art facilities provide a range of activities and services for young people aged eight to 19 (and up to 25 for those with disabilities). For Morley, who became chief executive in 2013, the role fused her professional experience with a personal interest in supporting young people.
What are your expansion plans and how are you going to achieve these?
In addition to our 14 functioning youth zones (which includes Warrington, a youth club we took over that will move into a new youth zone in 2022), we have three “live” projects: in Grimsby, Basildon and at the Ark Education City development in Hammersmith & Fulham. There are another 40 in the pipeline that are at various stages in the development process. We want to talk to every local authority even though some may decide they do not want a youth zone. We are focusing on areas with the highest needs first and aim to open four each year over the next decade.
Every youth zone is a labour of love. They require a lot of consideration from all the parties involved because we want to do it right so that they are here for 100 years. Each one takes around four years from start to finish – it takes two years of discussions and another two years to get planning permission, complete the build and fit, and recruit and train staff. Basildon has been amazingly quick; within 12 months of starting we’ve got to the point where planning permission will be submitted in the spring.
What principles will underpin your growth strategy?
We’re really ambitious for young people and know that they can benefit from youth zones. We learn every time we open a new youth zone, because more provision equals increased knowledge and better quality across the network. It is a virtuous circle.
There’s real value for local authorities [that support a youth zone] for a limited investment – for every £1 spent there is a return of £6 in terms of delivery.
The core of our model is to deliver good quality services in large open-access provision by well-trained youth workers, and backed by the private sector and other funders.
Has the pandemic affected your plans at all?
Young people’s needs for support from youth zones and other youth provision has never been greater. Local authorities recognise that.
Over the next few years, it is going to be difficult for young people to get into work. There’s a lot of anxiety among young people about their future and the impact the pandemic will have on their education, and the trauma caused from being isolated from friendship groups.
We have a broad range of funders, so I feel optimistic; we’ve managed through the austerity of the last 10 years so I’m confident. We’ve not lost any projects due to the pandemic.
How did OnSide adapt during the pandemic?
We had to adapt quickly to the first national lockdown, and youth zones have done a lot of change management throughout the year. I’ve been highly impressed with the “can do” attitude of staff.
Youth zones provided a whole range of services through digital platforms and some of that will continue and we’ll be better for it.
Our talent academy provided online training to youth zone staff on outreach work so they could support young people in the community when facilities were closed.
Fundamentally, however, we believe face-to-face provision will remain central to our offer. Attending the youth zone will remain the entry point for most young people into our services, trying new activities and building new relationships with peers and positive adults.
OnSide has played an active role in the development of new professional standards for youth workers. Why is that so important to you?
We are supporting 60 youth workers to achieve Level 3 qualifications through a partnership with the National Youth Agency.
As councils have reduced youth services there has been a decline in the number training to be youth workers because the roles are not there. Our talent academy is there to ensure that as the network grows, we have people with the right skills and can develop talent. We’ve taken training into our own hands as open access youth work is very different [to targeted provision].
Youth workers can make such a positive contribution to young people’s lives – it is not really about the activity a young person does but the impact of their relationship with the youth worker. I just want to get more out there helping young people. Their flexibility has played to this pandemic – they want to help people in whatever way they can and changed how they worked on a sixpence in ways that some other professionals were unable to.
Kathryn Morley CV
- Jan 2013 – present: Chief executive, OnSide Youth Zones
- 2011 – 2012: Self-employed business consultant
- 2004 – 2011: Managing director roles in food and logistics businesses
- 2001 – 2004: General manager, food industry
- 1992: MBA, Cranfield School of Management
- 1984: BSc in economics and accounting, University of Bristol
