The latest issue of Youth Work Now came out today and my second ‘From The Frontline’ opinion piece is printed on page 9. I wrote it as a reaction to the government sponsored MyPlace initiative:

The government’s MyPlace initiative will provide £190m of capital funding to help create new youth facilities across England. For those of us who have experience of trying to run a table-tennis tournament in a drafty wooden hut during the winter months, this is clearly good news!

However I can’t help wondering if this investment in buildings is simply a case of throwing money at the sector while ignoring our most vital resource: the workers.

A key characteristic of informal education is that it can take place anywhere and is not limited to a particular space. While buildings are important, youth workers operate in a wide range of settings. We all know of creative educators who use whatever environment they are in to support and benefit young people – be that a local park or the open countryside. Yet there’s no doubt that youth clubs and other facilities are important assets and have played a pivotal role in the development of many young people. In fact, the history of our vocation is based on pioneers such as the YMCA providing safe places for young people to attend.

However, just because we can build and develop youth facilities, it does not necessarily follow that they will provide good quality youth work.

In my area we have a small skate park that was built as a response to the lack of facilities for skaters. It was a helpful contribution that was well received by the young people until they started using it. Although it was outdoors and available at any time, there was never any supervision provided.

This made it unsuitable for those wanting to learn and unsafe for the accomplished skaters as other groups would congregate there to drink. The wooden ramps soon became damaged and worn through misuse and eventually the equipment had to be replaced, costing far more than the original investment.

There are other brilliant facilities that are similarly going to waste because they are badly managed. Investing in youth facilities only makes sense if we have the correct people to manage them and the thriving success stories in youth work are those clubs that are led by enthusiastic and committed workers.

Therefore, while I welcome the MyPlace investment, I believe that there should be a more holistic approach to developing good practice that includes supporting reflective and passionate workers who will be successful with or without a building.