The importance of this was underlined for me yet again when I visited some youth projects in Derbyshire, guided by Gordon Savage, the principal officer in this diverse and attractive county. First to Pinxton, to see an Entry to Employment group where young people were being helped to develop their personal and job-related skills as they made sometimes difficult transitions to working life. This was occurring in an attractively refurbished youth centre, adjacent to a school. As well as remodelling some of its buildings, Derbyshire's youth service has also developed half a dozen purpose-built vehicles that can carry information on health, befriending and building respectful relationships into various communities.
After Pinxton I went to Clay Cross to meet an enthusiastic group of young mothers, who use the centrally located youth project as a weekly drop-in to develop relationships with each other.
Thence to County Hall in Matlock. Here far-sighted councillor Bob Janes, the authority's cabinet member for community services, had drawn together officers from various departments to see, in particular, how the county's youth services and library services could work together to better support socially excluded young people. The NYA has some experience of this through our joint work with the Reading Agency and its ebullient boss, Miranda McKearney, who was also at the meeting. Together we explored different possibilities that will now be worked on through joint training and selected pilot projects.
None of this is particularly exceptional. It is the silent, often unremarked work of youth services the length and breadth of the land. As in Derbyshire's case, extra funds help: but they cannot substitute for dedicated youth work in communities and careful strategic planning.
- Tom Wylie is chief executive of The National Youth Agency. He can be contacted at tomw@nya.org.uk.
