Youth clubs are the brainchild of a paternalistic mind-set. they are either teenage creches for lazy parents or temporary detention centres to keep kids off the streets. What's needed is teams of street/detached youth workers - and at a fraction of the cost.
Youth clubs don't work. They are run by adults with adult rules. they become turf and do not reach the marginalised. Maintenance, insurance, security cost a bomb. The skills required for their management do not coincide with those required for yourth work. Their existence reinforces parental disengagement and adult attention deficit.
Street/detached work works brilliantly. It takes place on yoof territory on yoof terms. This empowers the young people with the confidence to explore and challenge honestly issues which are normally taboo between young and adult. Its costs are minimal; you could probably pay for 20 three person teams of workers in place of the running costs of one small centre.The street provides passing 'traffic' as visual aids for discussion, as well as a situation in which private conversations can occur unremarked. The skills needed are simply those of youth work. By taking place on territory which is shared with adult/parental world, it requires adult world to 'be bothered'.
