In East London, mental health issues are prevalent amongst young people.  ‘Tower Hamlets has many of the risk factors for poor mental health. These include: high population density; overcrowding; high rates of unemployment and poverty; poor physical health; high rates of substance misuse’ (NHS Tower Hamlets, Public Health Priorities, 2010).  It is vital, then, that we act as positive adult role models to so that our young people can develop supportive, reliable relationships, for the Canaan Project (and many other youth workers) relationship is key, it is through these relationships that a variety of issues can be tackled while young people are on their journey towards adulthood.  And in addition, we help them achieve some fun and enjoyment in their lives.

I was struck as I thought about this recently, I attended a meeting with a variety of Youth Workers from a variety of contexts, there was a lot of talk about how we accredit our young people, as a means of marking progress and therefore success and therefore justifying our roles as youth workers. This is important, but equally for us at the Canaan Project we believe it is also equally important to give space to young people having fun and enjoy themselves, because can lead to relief of stress outlined in this report and as a result relief of mental health issues.

I just wanted to up date you on the current funding situation, as some of you may have been aware for a long time it was looking a little bit scary at the Canaan Project, but we have made it to our Year End 1st September 2011 and there were times this was looking like it would not happen!? We were successful over the Summer with Lloyds TSB Foundation and Trusthouse Charitable Trust giving us some money toward our work. We also had some personal donations that are very appreciated and seriously mean a lot, both in a financial sense but also in that that others recognise our work and feel to give out of their personal earnings. So a big thanks goes out to our supporters and funders, thanks so much, you are enabling young peoples lives to be positively impacted on a weekly basis, through the work of the Canaan Project.

This is half the story, we are still around £18,000 short for the next financial year ending August 2012, so for those of you that pray, pray, for those that give, give, and for those that pray and give, pray and give! We have applications in and we are creating some interesting partnerships with people (more news to follow) that might bear fruit in a financial sense. This is a difficult situation to be in as a small charity but does offer us the opportunity to continually evaluate and monitor the work, ensuring we are running a very ‘lean’ organisation, there is no fat on us! Every penny counts!

Last night was the first time I did not feel 100% safe as I made my way to youth club on the Teviot. This week there have been a couple of muggings on the estate (apparently by young people) in broad day light and a fight between to rival groups of young people. Now these things on their own would not normally bother me – unfortunately they happen on a regular basis (there was an interesting article in the Guardian yesterday about people’s brains in the urban environment and our expectation of such events). But the events yesterday were different. There has been a recent change in the club atmosphere, there seems to be slightly more tension in the older group of young people, particularly the boys. It has felt like something was brewing for a while (maybe it was my urban brain?!).

This got me thinking about fear, and that if I was feeling fear then I could understand that the young people would be feeling fear. Interestingly enough 3 girls came rushing in to club last night saying ‘we’re staying here ‘cos that girl is going to beat us up and it’s safe in here’. This is exactly the kind of environment the the Canaan Project needs to be creating.

Fear is such a driving force amongst young people (although not just young people!) and produces negative effects – I would say conflict is only one of them. As demonstrated in my fear of walking to youth club and the 3 girls that came rushing in, fear can sometimes trap young people into not coming out at all. In this case young people are not socialising and they are not receiving equality of opportunity if they are sacred and trapped at home in fear. We have to break these cycles of fear because I am sure the young people that would be considered the perpetuators are acting out of fear also.

A common issue in youth clubs up and down the country is young people drinking. This story from the BBC today prompted this blog, along with yet another conversation with a group of young people about drinking last night in youth club. This has been becoming more common recently again. We had a group that used to come in drunk Amy’s group a couple of years ago, but it seemed to have stopped for a while.

The article talks about the role of parents in the drinking of the child. We had have conversations with young people in the past about there drinking and they have stated that they have had conversations with their parents and there parents are ‘OK’ with it. Or parents that simply seem not to know or care.

There are the more obvious physical health problems with drinking that young people are exposing themselves too, including Alcohol poisoning but it is some of the other ‘knock on’ affects which concern me.  Particularly  some of the young women we have had conversations with in the past have made themselves very vulnerable when they have been drunk, and we have had do do some informal education around drinking and being on the streets or in the parks with people you do not know or going to other peoples houses that you do not know and getting drunk.  I think some young people will always drink to excess but at the Canaan Project I hope we educate them to act safely and support each other when we are not around to help.

I took a young person yesterday to an office in Bank to meet a potential volunteer that works for a well known international company. As we were walking to the office for the meeting we were talking about the contrast between the crumbling paths of the Teviot Estate and the posh streets of Bank and Canary Wharf, both a metaphor and a fact!

The difference is real. It seems like an unobtainable dream to work or be in a place like Bank or Canary Wharf, a place dominated by people so different. The young person felt (as did I to be honest) out of place. The area is so culturally different. We have to look at ways to make this place more accessible.

The amazing thing about this potential volunteer is that it brings that world crashing in to the Teviot. It puts a face to a dream. This is a great opportunity for young people to aspire to more. As I mentioned in my last blog, this could be another mountain top experience. This volunteer could make this world seem much more accessible and the dream of working in such places more achievable, contributing to the 3rd part of our mission:

‘To provide opportunities for young people to develop aspirations and the resources to achieve them.’

I wanted to fill you in on the area in which we work – the map above tells you of some of the isolation that people may feel in the area, cut off by 2 Major A roads a Canal and a DLR . This is an extract from a funding bid, put together by a professional fund raiser on our behalf:

?The Index of Multiple Deprivation shows the ward of East India and Lansbury (within which the Teviot Estate is located) to be the most deprived in London.  65% of the Local Super Output Areas are in the 5% most deprived areas of the country.  The area is characterised by social problems common to many deprived areas – gang violence, substance misuse, high rates of crime and anti-social behaviour, poor educational attainment, high levels of worklessness and youth unemployment, and child poverty (Office for National Statistics, 2009; Tower Hamlets Partnership).  The Canaan Project Youth Service addresses these problems by encouraging young people to take control of their lives, and to break the cycles of generational worklessness, conflict between different groups,  and the pervasive, underlying apathy, cynicism, and negative peer/family influence that can undermine aspiration and ambition.

Stats tell us one story but stories tell another – why not read some of the old blogs of our work and get the bigger picture.

Well we survived horse riding! It was great actually and I think the Girls that we took had a great time, some of them meeting and riding a horse for the first time and loving getting out of London and being outside in the forest.

Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government this week at the NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) national conference said:

‘You know, people say it’s easier to start a gang than a youth group. Because the government doesn’t regulate gangs. It doesn’t come up with an endless list of rules and requirements. Hurdles and hoops. Paperwork and boxes to tick and forms to fill in. It’s no wonder that people get frustrated and give up before they’ve even begun.’

The whole article can be found here on the NVCO website. This is a really interesting and completely valid point, but before I slip in to the trap set by Mr Pickles of stating myself out of a job, I believe there should be some form of organisation and regulation in order to ensure youth provision is safe for young people and volunteers, and therefore a level of professional (paid) support – like the Canaan Project provides for the 120 young people we meet each week. Also I don’t normally use the term ‘gang’ which I feel can too easily be adopted to negatively label groups of young people who may just be socialising together. However I am not naive and understand that there are issues.

That said it is simply unbelievable the amount of bureaucracy and red tape that we fight on a weekly basis. The reason this saddens me is because it is the young people that miss out. Sometimes I wonder what youth workers did before computers and forms…wow they must have spoken to young people!

Back to the good/real stuff – making a definite difference to young people’s lives. These are some of the new experiences we gave to young people last week:

1. Using the London Underground
2. First time to the South Bank in London
3. First time in the Royal Festival Hall
4. First meal out in a restaurant
5. First time ordering food for themselves
6. Young people deciding the colour of a new local youth centre
7. First time trying new food
8. First time Ice Skating
9. First time Horse Riding
10. First time on a day trip without family

I decided to stop at 10. These things may seem small or even insignificant, but these are the things that build confidence and develop aspiration and these are the things that we believe make differences to young peoples lives.