At a fully attended council meeting in Bristol, two teenagers - Max Wellingham and David Levene - stood up to let the Lord Mayor, city councillors, chief officers and a packed public gallery know just what sort of future they and their peers want to see. They were representing the views of more than 300 young people aged 13 to 17, who attended Hear by Right - Your Say, a one-day conference held in December last year. It gave young people in Bristol the chance to have their say on key issues such as crime and education.
Beyond expectations
Max Wellingham is a 16-year-old member of the City of Bristol Young People's Forum and helped to organise the conference. He joined the forum three years ago after a friend's mum saw a leaflet and suggested he might go along. "The conference was amazing," he says. "I was really surprised at the scale of it all. It was organised by the forum with support from the council's young people's services."
The conference followed months of research with hundreds of young people from local schools, colleges and youth groups. "It focused on what we felt the decision-makers in the Government, the city council and other public agencies should be doing to make life better for young people in Bristol," adds Max. "After the conference, it was really important for us to take the findings to the council. I think the councillors did listen and they've agreed to look at how each department can take on board our suggestions."
Max's co-presenter and fellow member of the forum was 14-year-old David Levene, who has only just joined. "For far too long young people's views have not been heard or taken seriously," says David, who admits that he was terrified when talking to the council. "But things are starting to change.
The Hear by Right conference put young people's views on the table and gave us a fast track to the heart of the council. The ball is in the council's court now," he says. "It's up to the council how it takes our report forward. I'm looking forward to coming back in October and seeing what's been done."
David believes the burning issue for young people in Bristol is education.
"There's so much stress for young people in school," he says. "We have some ideas that could be tried out."
Serious consideration
The council meeting closed with the councillors agreeing to consider carefully the young people's findings. They also pledged to identify ways in which young people can be more involved in influencing decisions.
Council leader Barbara Janke says: "The areas identified by the young people - crime, fear of crime, education and so on - correspond closely with the areas identified by the council as priorities for the city." She adds: "Coming to the council is an excellent example of how young people can gain first-hand experience of speaking out and being heard. I hope this will become a model for future council meetings."
The forum and the Hear by Right conference are examples of how Bristol has been able to provide support and encouragement to young people, empowering them and developing their capacity and skills to enable young people to take their place in society.
- Kanwal Dhillon is youth service manager, inclusion, at Bristol Young People's Services
CONFERENCE FINDINGS
At the Hear by Right - Your Say conference, an interactive voting session was carried out to gain the views of the 300 young people attending.
These are some of the key findings:
- Health: Two-thirds of young people agreed that being healthy is important, but only seven per cent said they regularly eat five portions of fruit or vegetables per day. Nearly half admitted they eat junk food almost every day and a similar number said they exercise less than three times a week. It was suggested that cheap or free passes to sports facilities and classes for young people might encourage greater sporting participation
- Safety: Thirty-four per cent of young people do not feel safe in their own area. There was strong support for more CCTV provision in public places and more police on the beat. The idea of young people's shelters got a definite thumbs down
- Education: Three-quarters of young people find some aspects of school stressful. A significant number - one in five of those who responded - do not like school at all. Suggestions for improvement included changes to the school day and structure
- Leisure: More than half of those questioned said they never go to "cultural" places such as museums, art galleries or the theatre. Suggestions to make culture more inclusive included exhibitions on skateboarding and youth photography projects.
