The following is an excerpt from my opening chapter in Journeying Together. Growing youth work and youth workers in local communities. The book is a 144 page collection of writings looking at the practical issues effecting locally-based youth work. Although it is based around the experiences of The Rank Foundation, it will be of great interest to anyone working with local youth projects and agencies.

You can order a copy from Amazon here.

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Local Youth Work (Part 8)

Civil society
In addition to the benefits of engaging and inspiring young people, local youth work also has something else to offer the wider community: change. The idea of voluntary involvement where people and organisations provide good-will services for the benefit of others is often called ‘civil society’ (Edwards, 2004).

Simply described, civil society is expressed through communal activity that exists independently from the dominating commercial and political agendas of our culture. It allows people the opportunity to express themselves by helping others for no reward. Any activity, such as visiting the elderly, running the Neighbourhood Watch group and serving on the school board of governors, are all forms of an engagement in civil society. Local youth work is a good example of this.

Research has shown that this sense of cooperation, belonging and ‘shared life’ is potentially much more empowering than simply helping people to feel good about themselves. Robert Putnam collected a range of compelling evidence to suggest that in places where trust and social interaction are strong, the individuals, businesses and general community tended to thrive economi- cally (2000: 319–25). Essentially, it has been found that, where people actively engage in connecting with each other and working together, it can bring about significant positive change to the wider area.

‘Connection’ and ‘working together’ are essential factors for local youth work, where the participation and association of young people in the community is generated by the efforts and character of the worker. Not only is local youth work able to build relationships with young people to facilitate learning, but the transformative impact of this work can have a huge effect on the whole community!

Questions for reflection

• Did any adults influence your involvement in work with young people? …what form did this influence take?
• What are the challenges for your work in demonstrating the first four characteristics of youth work – a focus on young people, voluntary involvement, a concern with education and well-being and encouragement of cooperation, community and belonging?
• What, in your experience, do young people respond to in the adults who work with them?
• How have you gone about gaining acceptance as a ‘local’ youth worker?
• In your experience, what is the value and impact of a locally managed organisation on the quality of life within a community?

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Click here for the full series of 8 posts.