Big interview: Intervention close to home - Peter Harris, chair, The National Federation of Detached Youth Workers

As chair of The National Federation of Detached Youth Workers, Peter Harris understands the phrase "baptism of fire" only too well. Just as he was taking over the reins last September, the organisationwas plunged into crisis.First it lost its co-ordinator, its sole full-time employee, and then itlost its offices. To add to its pain, its conference - theorganisation's main revenue stream - raised less money than expected.Harris, who is also a senior youth worker in Birmingham, admits that itwas a tough time to take over."We only have the money we raise at the conference - it's a bit hand tomouth really," says Harris. "We were only able to recruit theco-ordinator because we received three years' funding from the CommunityFund. As it got towards the end of the three years, the staff memberstarted looking for a new job. It's part of a general retention andrecruitment crisis in youth work."Although there is still a lot to do, things are slowly stabilising. Thefederation will soon be moving into new premises at The National YouthAgency's Leicester office, and this year's conference in November isbeing held in partnership with the agency.Harris's determination to steer the organisation into calmer watersstems from a belief in the special role played by detached youth work.It is a branch of youth work that is all too often misunderstood, hesays, but whose "on-the-streets" nature gives it the best chance ofconnecting with hard-to-reach groups."Detached youth work is free from the constraints of centre-based work,"he says. "Workers and young people meet on equal terms: the work startsaccording to the young person's own needs."He is keen to distinguish detached from outreach youth work. "Theoutreach worker is selling something, trying to bring someone in toaccess a service," says Harris. "But in our field, the detached youthworker is the resource. It defies outcomes such as how many people comeinto the centre."And it is a form of youth work that is becoming more fashionable, hebelieves. "The political climate is very favourable, with detached youthwork recognised by the Government," says Harris. "A lot of new projectsare also on the way."Another reason for optimism is the recent Joseph Rowntree Foundationreport on detached youth work, which showed how effective it can be, howmuch it costs and the challenges that need to be overcome (YPN, 23-29June, p18). "I thought it was an excellent report," says Harris. "Here'san organisation saying what I've been saying for years: in a policyenvironment of outcomes, how do you measure added value, what you'veprevented from happening, while at the same time preserving an informalworking environment?"He also welcomes the report's conclusion that funders are having toogreat a role in defining the curriculum."The report shows how projects are constantly having to re-badge, withmanagers having to present work in a way that will interest funders,"says Harris.Warming to his theme, he continues: "We have to stop putting detachedyouth work up for sale to funders, we must keep our core principles forour way of working."That is where the federation comes in. If detached youth workers are tohave a voice and contribute to the policy debate, then they need anorganisation to fight their corner, says Harris."If we want to resist the outcome quantification culture, we have tohave rock-solid thinking. Gordon Brown isn't going to increase spendingon detached youth work without some return on his investment. So we needa strong voice arguing that detached youth work does bring aboutcommunity cohesion," he concludes.