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Noise in the ‘Hood

Young people from the Druid’s Heath estate on the outskirts of Birmingham have spent the past seven months looking at facilities for young people on the estate. They were due to present their findings to local decision-makers in mid-July. Carolyn Oldfield got a preview of their presentation.

They start off a bit hesitantly. A couple of stumbles and pauses. Was it ok to say ‘dog poo’? No, better stick with ‘dog mess’, don’t want to upset the local bigwigs. But as the young people got into their presentation and their confidence grew, what became overwhelmingly clear is their level of commitment, enthusiasm and the sheer quality of their work.

‘They’ are a group of ten people aged between 13 and 16. They’ve had mixed educational histories, most have been out of school at some point. But their commitment to their project led them to give up one evening a week for the past seven months – far more as the date of the presentation grew nearer – to work on their project.

It all started when some young people from the estate’s Maypole Centre got involved in Birmingham Young People’s Parliament’s discussions on the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill as it was going through parliament. As they explored the issues, they became increasingly angry about the negative ways in which young people were viewed. They set out to put their views across through a song ‘Am I Anti-social?’ and video, showing where they hung out on the estate. ‘Where do you want me to go?’, they asked. ‘We know that most people in our community would prefer us to disappear, but realistically they should acknowledge that we are part of this community.’

The group – which by then had named itself the Maypole Action Group (MAG) – acknowledge that some young people cause trouble on the estate. But they resent the way that this leads to all young people being seen as a problem.  ‘We’re always seen as a gang rather than a group. We’re a group of friends that like doing things together’, argued Shaun. ‘We’re treated as bad because we’ve got nothing to do’, said Jason. ‘But we want to hang out together, it teaches you to be part of a community’, added his brother Ryan.

MAG decided to find out what other young people thought about where they lived. They devised a questionnaire, which asked about young people’s views of the estate, where they hung out and why, how safe they felt, whether there were enough facilities for children and young people, and what facilities they would like to see in place. ‘We got ideas for different facilities from going round Birmingham and taking photos of things like seating areas, skate parks, football and basketball pitches, adventure swings and floodlighting’, said Clare. ‘We got quite jealous when we saw what other areas had and we didn’t’, added Paul.

Nearly 150 children and young people completed the questionnaire. It was clear from MAG’s analysis of the results that children and young people find the estate a boring and dirty place to live. Too much dog mess was identified as a particular problem. ‘They say that we can go and play on the fields, but they’re just covered with dog mess. You can’t play there’, said Sarah. The survey also found that many young people did not feel safe on the estate, particularly at night. Drugs play a major role in this. ‘There’s a lot of young people get into drugs just because they’re bored, explained Shaunna. ‘It’s stupid, we want to be active, but there’s nowhere to go.’

The survey found that 90 per cent of young people questioned wanted to see more facilities for young people on the estate. The most popular options were an adventure swing, a multi-purpose sports area, a skate park and more seating areas and shelters.

The next step for MAG is presenting their findings to a group of local decision-makers – including the parks officer, the district officer responsible for community facilities, housing providers and police – in mid-July. In order to ensure that their research is taken seriously, they have worked with Maypole’s youth workers to develop a polished PowerPoint slide-set, and to develop and practise delivering their presentation, in which they all have a role. They will also be showing their video. To take forward the project’s work, they are asking relevant departments and organisations to commit themselves to specific actions. MAG has also been nominated for a Taking a Stand award – if successful, this would bring in £5,000, which could be used to fund a feasibility study.

But while tangible outcomes are in the future, the project has already brought about some changes. ‘People are starting to see us differently, they see we’re doing something and think, “oh, they’re not that bad”,’ says Bernadette. Leanne agreed: ‘They start to see us as individuals, not always as a group to be afraid of.’ The group is also planning to make links with residents of the old people’s home on the estate. ‘We’ll go and talk to them, maybe put on some performances’, explains Katie. ‘Maybe you could make a video with them’, suggests youth worker Pete Norman. ‘That way you could use your ICT skills to allow them to record their views and memories’.  But it seems that there may be a long way to go to win over adult residents. ‘The local residents’ group receives a lot of complaints about young people’, says youth worker Becky Crampton. ‘Youth workers sometimes attend the meetings to talk about Maypole’s work. I suggested that they invited some young people, but they were apprehensive, didn’t want young people to know where they lived.’ However, the young people aren’t about to give up: ‘maybe we could have another try, make our presentation to the residents’ group’, Shaun suggests. ‘Everyone is scared’, added Shaunna, ‘so they don’t get involved. They’re living in fear rather than helping each other.’

But helping each other is exactly what the members of MAG are doing. The Maypole Centre is one of 27 organisations piloting the Young People’s Development Programme, a long-term, broad-based development programme to address risk behaviour among young people aged 13 to 15, managed by The National Youth Agency. The programme’s components include volunteering, so often written off as inappropriate and unappealing to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. But MAG shows how it can be done, with the impetus coming from young people’s own view of their lives and their passion for change. The last words must go to Leanne - ‘We’re doing this for the next generation, we may not get the facilities when we want them, but our children will have them’, and Katie – ‘we can look back and think, “we built it, we did that”.’

MAG members are: Shaunna O’Reilly, Clare O’Loughlin, Sarah Poole, Leanne Poole, Bernadette Palmer, Katie Edge, Jason Butcher, Ryan Butcher, Paul Clarke and Shaun O’Loughlin. For more information, contact Pete Norman, The Maypole Centre, Idmiston Croft, Birmingham B14 5NJ. Tel: 0212 464 6172. E-mail: maypole_youth_centre@birmingham.gov.uk or visit www.maypolecentre.co.uk