Kidszone

Steven Brown joins our team

Steven Brown

(20th December 2007)

 

Steven Brown makes a living giving young people a voice. Here he explains why his newly created role on the ambitious Regenerating North Solihull project should help give the youth of the area a louder voice – and why that's so crucial to its success.

 

Nobody tells you how it is quite like children. If they like something you will find out soon enough – if they don't like something you will find out even sooner. Either way, you are rarely left in any doubt for too long as to their opinion.

 

Their problem is getting the rest of the world to listen to those opinions. We all hear their opinions every day but that is a long way from actually listening.

 

The North Solihull Partnership is trying to do something about this problem. The Partnership is currently implementing a £1.8 billion regeneration of the three wards of Chelmsley Wood, Smith's Wood and Kingshurst & Fordbridge that make up North Solihull, and understands the importance of young people.

 

In fact 'important' doesn't really do young people justice when it comes to the Regenerating North Solihull project – they are a key focus and arguably one of the most important stakeholders. One fact that says all you need to know about the focus of this project is that by the end of it, every primary school age child will be attending a brand new school.

 

And they are crucial stakeholders because it is they who will inherit the fruits of the project. They will be the workforce, the parents, the future homeowners and community leaders, so it is absolutely crucial that children have a voice in the delivery.

 

I have recently been appointed as a Children and Young Person's Active Involvement Officer by the North Solihull Partnership to try and harness this voice. But my role is not just to act as a facilitator for the vocal but also as a conduit for the disenfranchised and sceptical young people living in North Solihull.

 

For all those who take a keen interest in what goes on about them in the wider community, there are just as many that feel completely disengaged. This can lead to anything from apathy to behaviour that is viewed as anti-social. This can happen when young people see themselves portrayed negatively when they feel they don't deserve this and they feel like they have no voice.

 

When people see youngsters with their hoods up they think they are being anti-social or sinister, but often it is because they have low self-esteem. I want to get them in an environment where they can voice their opinion and they know that opinion matters.

 

The new educational facilities coming to North Solihull will unquestionably make a fantastic difference to the early lives of children growing up in the area and a better education will hopefully encourage young people to become more involved in their local community. However, not everybody is the same, and a more informal approach to these young people can also really make a difference.

 

My role is to help in the consultation of young people from across the regeneration area, be it at special consultation events, school councils or over a pool table, and then ensure that these views are then listened to.

 

One of the many projects that is currently being considered is the improvement of Lanchester Park in Smith's Wood, which is set to be completely remodelled with the possible inclusion of a new skate park and exercise routes and enhanced open space.

 

We recently held a special consultation event for all residents to look and discuss plans for the park and it was extremely important we had as many young people involved as possible. As well as encouraging as many young people to attend through visiting local schools, we also tailored the event so that young people were consulted separately from the adults and in a more hands on way so that they could physically stick on the plans they wanted to see and where.

 

No disrespect intended, but the location and composition of the skatepark are issues that are the concern of the younger members of the community and so they should be consulted fully have a key input in important decisions on projects like this.

 

Things like skate parks can be fairly controversial to some members of the community, but done with everybody's views in mind they can be important local assets. Young people just want to be themselves. They want to be creative and have interesting things to do. It can be pretty uninspiring for young people in parts of North Solihull so we need to improve facilities for them if the overall project is going to be a success.

 

What I have already discovered in my short time in North Solihull is that while some are more vocal than others, there is a desire from the young people to get involved. Children want to get involved, but unless it is one of their homes that is directly affected, they can easily feel separated from the whole process.

 

Ownership is extremely important to the children of North Solihull as they watch these changes taking place around them. There has to be more involvement from young people in things like naming streets and parks and choosing what goes where. If children are jumping over fences into construction sites, it's because they are curious to see what is going on. Why not put peep holes in the hoarding so they can see what's going on?

 

The bottom line is that the children I want to engage in the regeneration process are just normal kids. It's not just the young people who have been excluded but average children who will benefit from being invited to make their voices heard. Of course there are always going to be young people who will want to be involved and that is great but they are not my main focus. My main focus is to give a voice to those who have been previously unheard.

 

I love working with young people, as I said earlier, they tell you straight how it is and you can also tell them straight how it is. What we need to do is not just consult them, but then take that information away and use it to the benefit of the regeneration project. If young people feel their voice is being heard and acted upon, they will undoubtedly want to be further involved. They must get the feedback they crave if they are to feel that they can actually make a difference.