Young people get their shout during Youth Safety Week
Young people from across Camden pitched their ideas on how to improve youth safety during the annual Shout Out debate in the Council Chamber last Thursday (13 February).
The event, organised by Camden Youth Council and Camden’s Youth MP, was attended by youth clubs and projects from across the borough, as well as local secondary school students and took place during the Council’s first ever Youth Safety Week.
Six youth groups pitched their ideas to around 100 young people on how to keep young people in Camden safe with hopes to turn their idea into a reality with support by the Council.
The winning presentation was made by young people from Fitzrovia Youth in Action on 'Opportunities for Young People', who spoke about looking at ways to offer more attractive options for young people to succeed legitimately so they won't be drawn into joining gangs to make money.
Other pitches included a proposal for young people to be given free music studio time, more youth involvement and input into how police carry out stop and searches, a programme of school talks and mentoring, opening more youth clubs and increasing the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12.
Thank you to the young people who stood up with their ideas for how to solve youth violence. We can and will solve this problem. This event has given me renewed hope for the future.
It's extremely important for us to ensure that young people are involved in projects dedicated to youth safety because they are the ones who this work is designed for. Young people, their opinions and their insights are essential in informing successful practices, because often they provide a way of thinking that the adults in the room may not share. Our annual Shout Out event is one of the ways in which young people from across the borough can channel their views to the local council, as well as gauge an awareness of the community actions taken that will have an impact on them.
Shout Out took place during Youth Safety Week which combined a series of events, performances and workshops to provide support for the borough’s young people and their families and raise awareness of what is being done locally.
The week of action kicked off with a market place event, bringing together youth services and community groups to discuss how to improve youth safety in Camden.
A Question Time style session also took place where attendees had the opportunity to ask questions around youth safety to a panel which included Vauxhall MP Florence Eshalomi, Fabio Dovalle who is a Camden Youth Offending Service Peer Advocate and Cllr Abdul Hai, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Young People and Cohesion.
Superintendent Ben Clark, of Camden & Islington Police, Dr Richard Grove, Team Lead for Project 10/10, a community project working with young people in Camden and Reverend Jon March, Vicar of St Luke’s Kentish Town were also on the panel.
The importance of Youth Safety Week is about coming together as a community and recognising the role we all have in ensuring young people have safe places to be and to thrive. Professionals and services are making a commitment to provide safe spaces and safe opportunities for young people – as well as attuned, considered, youth-led support that allows them to make the most of these.
Boroughs across the Capital are experiencing the devastating effects of youth violence and it’s our priority in Camden to ensure every young person feels safe and lives a life away from crime. By hosting the borough’s first ever Youth Safety Week, we can directly reach out to communities to see what support they may need and find real solutions to the problems we face alongside Camden’s youth services, the police, community groups and schools.
In the lead up to Youth Safety Week, the young people’s commissioning team hosted a Real Talk debate, giving Camden’s young people the chance to discuss their views around the topic ‘One Choice, Many Lives’.
The winners of the Council’s multi-media competition, which encouraged children and teenagers to get creative by producing a range of media projects based on the theme ‘keeping children and young people in Camden safe’, were also announced.
Year 9 and 10 students from Acland Burghley School were announced as the overall winners of the Camden Youth Safety Week 2020 Multi-Media Competition for their raps and performances themed around the importance of youth safety.
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