Practice Sheet

Practice Sheet

Project Title

The Calm Street project

Location

City:Stockholm
Country:Sweden

Duration

Since 1984

Key Words

Inclusion, respect, responsibility, role models, prevention, mediation

Background

The Swedish youth organisation Fryshuset started the Calm Street (LugnaGatanin Swedish) project in 1995 to counteract violence and vandalism in Stockholm’s streets and public transport system. Unemployed people aged between 20 and 30 were recruited to serve as coaches and help prevent problems caused by young troublemakers who used to hang out around subway stations and bus stops.

Objectives

The aim of Calm Street is to create the opportunities and conditions that young people need to develop a positive identity and a valid role in society, which many people sadly lack today. However, the project cannot provide a universal solution. Calm Street serves to complement other initiatives that must be conducted at various levels.

Target Groups

There are two target groups:

●Young people who adopt anti-social behaviour in Stockholm and the Greater Stockholm area, who are the coachees

●Young unemployed people in the same areas, who are recruited as coaches

Strategy and Activities

From the start, the project was based on the deployment in the streets and public transport system of Stockholm of young unemployed people as coaches, rather than conventional security guards. They have proved very effective in preventing youth violence, vandalism and crime, mainly because they develop close relations with young troublemakers and become role models. The scheme thus benefits both the coachees and coaches.

Since its inception, the Calm Street project has succeeded in unifying people from vastly different backgrounds into a powerful social resource. Young people from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds who were once excluded from mainstream society now work together towards common goals. The project has developed into a versatile, long-term social inclusion programme covering the entire Greater Stockholm area.

Several hundred unemployed youths have been helped into training and employment; several hundred teenagers work as volunteers in local groups; schools all around the municipality of Stockholm have received help in counselling and conflict resolution, and around a hundred young crime victims have been given support.

This successful approach has led to coaches being hired by schools and local communities, and to an increase of the whole project. The Calm Street coaches have launched local junior Calm Street groups for teenagers, who can enroll and be part of the programme by helping keeping their own neighborhood safe and clean.

Today, the Calm Street Street Project is divided into a number of “sub-projects” with different areas of activity but common aims:

●The Public Transportation Project (subways and commuter trains) – the original project is still going on. Security guardians (between the ages of 20 and 30) are employed by Fryshuset/Calm Street, and hired by the public transport company of the City of Stockholm to provide safety and security in and around subway stations, both through direct intervention and by establishing contact and relationships with young people. Another aim of the project is to help young unemployed people enter the labour market.

●Local area presence – In a number of suburban districts, Calm Street guardians are working to create a better and safer environment by building relationship with the youngsters and being positive role-models. Normally, it is the political decision makers who, in consultation with social authorities and the police, invite and finance the presence/operations of these Calm Street guardians.

●The Junior Project – local groups of young volunteers (between the ages of 14 and19) are coached, educated, supervised and tutored by older guardians. They take part in activities such as training, field visits, camping out or sport and patrol their local area.

●The School Project – the Calm Street guardians are hired by schools and the municipality to improve the social climate in schools, offering support to pupils and helping to solve conflicts.

Calm Street also worked with perpetrators, encouraging them to acknowledge and take responsibility for their crimes and choosing another path.

A local version of the Calm Street project has recently started up in Langa, one of the major townships outside of Cape Town, South Africa.

Partners

An independent, non-profit foundation, Fryshuset and the Calm Street project work in close cooperation with local communities, social authorities, the police and political decision-makers.

Budget

The annual budget of Calm Street is approximately 20 millions SEK (approx. €2 million)

Results

Around 80% of Calm Street employees have some type of foreign background. This gives them extra credibility in suburbs where most of the young people are of immigrant parentage, which often means that their identity is shaped outside the Swedish societal structure. Calm Street collaborates extensively with the authorities and sees it as an important duty to help solve conflicts, for instance between young people and the police.

However, the project only works in a limited context. It is not enough to get young unemployed people into work. They also need to feel included in a group and valued.

The Fryshuset Youth Centre provides this type of base for Calm Street. Fryshuset is a highly versatile, socially involved meeting place, where youngsters are welcomed to various groups ranging from “ordinary people” to representatives of the establishment, visionary leaders, policemen, ex-criminals, priests, cultural workers, high school students, athletes and other young people. They are invited to participate in exciting activities, meetings and training programmes.

What counts here is a person’s aim in life – not the past. No one is judged in advance. Fryshuset and the Calm Street Project have built up a network of contacts spanning right across society, from the youngest suburban residents to the core of the establishment.

One of the success factors behind the sustainability and expansion of the Calm Street project is the kind of people that are recruited. The project employs people who have a personal experience of marginalisation, criminal conduct and other destructive patterns. Young people know that Calm Street does not judge people by their past, and they are attracted to the project for this reason. Provided they want to change their lives and have turned their back on their previous lifestyle, they are given an opportunity to work, while also contributing to the good of society and striking up new friendships with their colleagues.

The project also has many employees from a completely straight background. This combination is important. However, anyone working for Calm Street must have taken a definite stand against crime. Recruitment is done in consultation with the police, and to work in the public transportation system, employees must be approved by the Stockholm Transport Services.

However, rough experiences can be useful. People from tough backgrounds are familiar with the world that underprivileged young people live in. They know the social codes and can get past their barriers. They inspire trust, since they are living proof that it is possible to integrate society and lead an honest life. Young people respect those whose knowledge is based on first-hand experience. But there are also risks. It is important not to let isolated failures affect the entire project.

Research conducted by the Swedish Crime Prevention Council shows that 94% of people who work or have worked for Calm Street lead normal lives and are engaged in full time jobs or study. However, rigorous demands are made of the employees. They must be honest and drug-free (they are regularly drug tested). They must be positive role models for young people.

Evaluation

Since the start, in 1995, over several hundred youngsters have received help and support to find a job, get out of the risk zone, take responsibility and prove to society and themselves that they are capable of playing an active and positive role in society. Around 95% of Calm Street employees with a criminal background succeed in re-integrating in society and manage to live a regular life.

Testimonies

Many of the Calm Street guardians who grew up in underprivileged areas give an almost identical description of their background. Here are three examples:

“There are lots of great people in the suburbs, but they don’t stand a chance. Their parents work long hours and come home exhausted. They have low status jobs with low wages, and have to work all the time. They have no time for their children, no time to guide them. Their children fall behind in school because their Swedish is bad and their parents’ Swedish is even worse. No Swedish people live around here.

School is like a prison for kids who don’t speak the language. Their self confidence drops at the very age when they need a clear identity and want to assert themselves. Instead, they try to make something of themselves on the other side, the shadow side where other rules apply. This is when the downward spiral starts.”

“Many immigrants were well established in their native country but find themselves marginalised in their host country. Their children have to help support the family and act as ambassadors in the new country, since they speak the language better and know more about how things work here. But they learn the rules from people of their own age, which is not enough. When people of the same age teach each other the rules, things go wrong. For instance, if a person retaliates by hitting someone, you think this is the right way to behave.

Children from the suburbs who become successful often have parents with their own businesses. They can always give their children a job in the company. But children whose parents are unemployed or work in temporary, low status jobs have a tough time. Many of them get stuck in a rut. They mostly speak their own language and watch TV shows from their own country. Speaking the language is essential to be successful in a country, but because of their isolation, these kids only learn a slang version of Swedish.

The climate in the suburbs is tough. Many young people end up either leading a destructive lifestyle or working round the clock. Their isolation leads to low moral standards, and they just get used to it.”

“Kids in many suburbs live in bad environments. The suburbs have become crime and hard drug hotspots. Many parents lose control of their children. They are unable to offer them guidance in a society they are excluded from. In their own country, their family and relatives helped bringing up the children, but here they lose their authority. Their children need more time and energy than they can give.

Instead, the kids find interests outside the family and feel pressured to have the latest clothes and gadgets. They see small time gangsters flaunting their flashy cars and girls, and they want those things too. Their parents can’t afford it, so the kids start stealing. In this tough environment, it’s important to make your mark and get yourself noticed. The strongest survive, sometimes at the expense of the weaker ones. Nobody notices the weak ones, they don’t exist.”

Further information

Website:

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