Experienced youth workers have already met the need of young people to learn outside the classrooms. When they are not in school premises they do not look at learning as “pushing” or something that has to be done, but no matter they still learn. It is especially important for young people with poor school performance since they want to leave school because they feel that they are not able to achieve good results. It is, also, important to help them understand that people learn anywhere, as well as that learning environment is about how they see it.

 

What working with young people in an outreach situation needs is sustained, long-term, work. You need time to engage the young people, get their trust and get to know them, what makes them tick and then to actually alter, or try and influence, their behaviour and activities, and you don’t do that by jumping around from area to area. 1

Street youth work is all about engaging young people where they choose to meet

 

corner shop

park

urban housing estate

and working with them to an agreed outcome.

It is about empowering and supporting young people within their community, and definitely should not be used as a tool for social control. Street youth workers literally enter the ‘space’ occupied by young people, and the dynamics are different to other youth work interventions.

The key to success is in the positive relationships built and this requires time, commitment and really good negotiation skills.

All street youth work should be planned in consultation with young people to ensure that it really meets their needs. As such it needs to be paced to match the young people’s engagement and interest in the project, and focussed on the issues that they wish to explore, rather than set up to meet another agenda. 2 If the young people are not interested they will leave, and it will have a contra effect.

There are numerous street activities that can be both engaging and empowering for young people, e.g. theatre of the oppressed, various art interventions, such as “eye-bombing”, flash mobs, treasure hunts, geo-hashing, “circus skills”, etc…

Nowadays, when everybody is online, especially young people, these activities can be promoted through social media, and response based system can be created, where more young people can get informed and engaged this way.

References
  1. Crimmens, D. et all.( 2004). The role of street-based youth work in linking socially excluded young people into education, training and work. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation publication.
  2. Rogers, V. (2011). 101 Things to Do on the Street. Games and Resources for Detached, Outreach and Street-Based Youth Work Second Edition. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
  1. Crimmens, D. et all.( 2004). The role of street-based youth work in linking socially excluded young people into education, training and work. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation publication.
  2. Rogers, V. (2011). 101 Things to Do on the Street. Games and Resources for Detached, Outreach and Street-Based Youth Work Second Edition. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.