4Youth: New Street-Based Youth Project for Devizes

4Youth (South West) are pleased to announce the beginning of a 2.5 year street-based youth work project based in Devizes, Wiltshire on Monday and Thursday evenings………

The aim of street-based youth work is to engage and build trusting relationships with young people and to positively influence their lives by providing support and guidance, signposting through engaging them in enjoyable activities and informal and social education.

The project is a partnership between Devizes Town Council, which has provided the funding, and 4Youth (South West), a charity which delivers centre- and street-based youth work activities for young people aged 9-25 in Melksham, Atworth, Westbury and now Devizes. The charity also offers 1-to-1 counselling and group workshops at a range of sites across Wiltshire through its TeenTalk service.

4Youth has recruited a new team of Devizes based youth workers who will be delivering two street-based sessions per week from the beginning of October 2023. These sessions will begin by engaging young people in Devizes town centre on Monday evening’s and in the estate around 40 Acres Road Park on Thursday evenings; the routes may change over time, as young people begin to engage and tell us where they would like the team to be.

As the name suggests, street-based youth work takes place on the streets, parks and other public areas in the communities where the young people spend time. It starts where the young people ‘are at’ – both geographically and developmentally. It delivers informal and social education and address whatever needs are presented to or perceived by the youth worker. As street-based youth workers have no physical building or specific activity over which they have power or control, the relationship between young people and youth worker is entirely voluntary and constantly up for negotiation.

Hannah Parry, Area Coordinator for 4Youth, said, “There can often be a perception that county towns like Devizes don’t have as many issues as more urban towns and cities, but that’s often not the case. They can also experience a lack of opportunities, various kinds of disadvantage and deprivation, youth unemployment, low educational attainment and health issues, as well as anti-social behaviour and crime, such as gangs, drugs and county lines, and crime rates can sometimes be more concentrated in rural towns than in bigger cities.”

Youth work is a key tool for detracting young people away from harmful activity by supporting them to engage with positive activity, to address challenges and barriers and to move forwards happily, healthily and productively in their lives. Street-based youth work has often been thought of as a way of trying to get young people to stop offending or engaging in anti-social behaviour, but in reality it has much more to offer young people and communities. Street-based youth work does work with young people to discourage ASB and youth offending, but at its core it offers as much value as any other form of youth work.

“As well as supporting young people where they are now, our Devizes street-based team will be helping to understand the youth scene and gather the voices of local young people around their needs and aspirations. This will help us to understand the issues young people in the town face and how these can be addressed. We will use street-based youth work to build a stronger community relationship for the young people of Devizes by supporting them to have a voice within and to participate in the town.”

You can keep up to date with 4Youth (South West) via Instagram and Facebook and find out more about their services via their websites – 4youth.org.uk and teentalk.org.uk