‘The Street’ is a project that uses hard hitting, immersive theatre to discourage young people from engaging in anti-social or damaging behaviour by exploring the potential damage it can do to themselves and others. It encourages young people to think before they act, to take responsibility for their actions and to be aware of the potentially serious and dangerous consequences of destructive or anti-social behaviours such as vandalism, knife crime, domestic violence and alcohol abuse, that are all too common in their social environments and backgrounds. The project has impacted on reduction in criminal activity by targeted perpetrators within communities (by up to 29%) as well as delivering nationally recognised ground breaking innovation in addressing anti-social behaviour, whilst increasing public reassurance. The first of its kind in Scotland, ‘The Street’ Project presents best practice and excellence as its targeted, diversionary approach, is owned and delivered by at risk young people, aimed at young people involved in, or on the brink of becoming involved in, youth disorder and anti-social behaviour.
PLANNING / · a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs· contributes to organisation’s goals and addresses current or emerging challenges
Through partnership working between the Regen:FX Youth Trust, South Lanarkshire Council, Strathclyde Police, NHS Lanarkshire, and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, and subsequent delivery and evaluation of diversionary services, the need to identify a new, effective and innovative approach to engaging young people involved in gang, knife and territorial issues, was raised as priority action for communities and stakeholders as increases in such activity were beginning to emerge. This was identified through tactical 'hot spot' information provided by Strathclyde Police and from information provided through the Local Household Survey of residents carried out by South Lanarkshire Council. From this ‘The Street’ was developed.
‘The Street’ developed inline with a number of strategic directions within South Lanarkshire Council’s Community Planning framework and Single Outcome Agreement. This includes the Community Safety Partnership (through Anti Social Behaviour Strategy) and the Youth Partnership (through the Youth Strategy), and at a national level, within the context of the Concordat with the Scottish Government, No Knives Better Lives and the subsequent Single Outcome Agreement for South Lanarkshire. Through this 'The Street' has contributed to the partnership goals of decreasing anti-social or damaging behaviour whilst supporting the young people to make positive lifestyle choices and not only stop their behaviour, but to give back to their community as well, changing the negative perception of young people.
Through this rationale, participation of young people, as part of a diversionary programme, was person centred and presented these young people the opportunity to increase their own personal expectations of where they are now and where they see themselves in the future, to improve their decision making skills and transferral of core skills and, to develop self confidence and the ability to acknowledge the impact and consequences of their own actions, both immediately and in the longer term, for themselves and within their communities. Given the sensitive issues within this activity and its hard-hitting content, South Lanarkshire Council's Psychological Services were involved in assessing the impact of the activities on young people to enable support to be provided, where appropriate.
DELIVERING / · implemented in all relevant areas and across all the required stakeholders· carried out in a structured and logical way , using robust and sustainable methods
The pilot went live during February and March of 2010, operating 3 nights per week from 6.30 – 10pm. To date 1,101 young people have participated from across South Lanarkshire, identified and targeted as most at risk through partners including Strathclyde Police, South Lanarkshire Council's Universal Connections youth facilities, Youth Practitioner groups, Social Work and local Police Problem Solving groups as well as other authorities seeking to utilise the resource.
To sustain and ensure the robustness of 'The Street', ownership lies with young people who deliver the theatrical experience. They have been involved in the project for almost a year before ‘The Street’ became ‘live’. The majority of this group themselves had already been identified as being at severe risk of, or already involved in, the criminal justice system through our partner agencies including Universal Connections, local Youth Practitioner Groups and Problem Solving Groups. They participated in a voluntary basis throughout the first year, taking part in workshops and residential experiences, which enabled them to learn about every aspect of the production from acting to make-up, to set design and special effects, so that when the time came they were able, with the support of industry professionals, to fulfil every role in the production of ‘The Street’, further cementing their ownership of, and commitment to, the project.
The theatre experience is immediately followed by a workshop facilitated by trained and experienced youth workers who help the young people explore their thoughts and feelings about what they have just witnessed. The workshop allows young people to identify and come up with alternate options at crucial decision points within the scenes. Young people monitor and review their experience and thoughts at the end of the night on 7 aspects which are: overall impact; the issues covered; the acting; the workshop; the build-up; the special effects; and the venue. Follow ups with the staff and support workers of the groups and the group members takes place 6 months on and beyond their visit to assess further impact. This system of self-review ensures that ‘The Street’ experience is kept as realistic and as authentic as possible as it is the young people them self that determine how genuine and engaging the different scenes are. The original group of young people committed to the project have stayed with it from the beginning. In addition to the original young people, 28 participants have requested the opportunity to become involved in the further development of ‘The Street’.
INNOVATION + LEADING PRACTICE / ·Demonstrates leading practice, and is capable of replication elsewhere·Achieves genuine innovation or new ways of working
'The Street' is recognised as the first of its kind in Scotland. It takes good practice in delivering group work sessions, the reality of the street for young people in South Lanarkshire, the issues that young people face and presents this in a 'real' way that they are immersed in. Participants have stated that the issues raised in The Street are relevant to most young people today and that they could relate to all issues presented. Traditional performances around youth issues have mostly been with young people passively involved in the whole experience. By removing the 'comfort zone' of sitting back and watching, and placing the participant in the middle of the performance, theresult is a dynamic relationship with the issues explored. Whereas before a young person, after throwing a stone through a window, would run away, here there was no option to run; the participant watches the impact of such actions as they play out within the drama. The set for each of the scenarios was built in a disused warehouse and was held at night when it was darkest the most. This approach is replicable for other authorities as it is a new approach that is being advocated rather than necessarily developing a new service.
In support of ‘The Street’, Christina McKelvie (MSP) presented and passed a motion at the Scottish Parliament on 11 March 2010 commending Regen:fx and stating that the Parliament “…further believes that this model has the potential to reduce offending by young people in communities across Scotland” ( and continues to be an advocate of the project and the potential to replicate in other areas.
As part of the ‘No Knives, Better Lives’ initiative, The Street has been recognised as a good example of youth work, helping combat youth disorder and anti-social behaviour in Scotland and was the setting for the launch of 'No Knives, Better Lives' initiative in South Lanarkshire.
RESULTS + IMPACT / · a convincing mix of customer and internal performance measures·demonstrates howbetter outcomes are being achieved
· a full range of relevant results– either already achieved or with potential to deliverover time
The following performance measures illustrate the success of the Academy:
Outputs
28 cast members writing and performing 'The Street'
1,101 participants have experienced the Street
119 performances delivered
300 hours Saltire Awards gained by cast
Customer results
96% of participants have stated in evaluation that the scenes have had an impact on them and they would consider their actions in the future
100% of participants stated that the issues raised in 'The Street' are relevant to most young people today and that they could relate to all issues presented
Community members have expressed that they have witnessed a notable change in young people that they have referred to The Street both in terms of Cast members and targeted groups they have sent to experience The Street.
Outcomes
'The Street' is recognised as impacting in helping reduce anti social behaviour by the following amounts in hotspot areas:
Burnhill down 1%
Springhall down 12%
Whitlawburn down 9%
High Blantyre down 29%
Fernhill down 6%
Westburn down 15%
38% reduction in window breaking in the Springhall/Whitlawburn area in 2010 -11 and has remained low since.
100% of the workers stated they gained a greater insight into the individuals they worked with learned worked with due to the format of the workshop.
Youth practitioners indicated through evaluation forms that The Street experience has been a positive engagement for their groups and stated it has been the catalyst to further issue based work with them.
Youth practitioners expressed that the workshop element was invaluable in its format and facilitated the young people to speak openly and honestly about their behaviour and experiences in a safe environment that was non-judgemental but challenging at the same time.
Testimonials from various guests include:
“I found this dramatic production very hard hitting and a fantastic way to involve young people in confronting issues and choices which face them on “‘The Street’”. It feels very different to discussion type approaches; it feels real because you are part of the action developing on the street and events are happening very fast. It highlights how quickly poor choices can be made which are devastating for individuals and communities. But it also then gives young people an opportunity to consider how to help change things in the future. The young people’s acting was tremendous and the fact that they are bringing these important messages to other young people must be very rewarding for them.”
Head of Children and Justice Services, South Lanarkshire Council
“The Street is a forward thinking and innovative way of tackling antisocial behaviour, perpetrated mainly by young people, in a community where they should feel valued and in fact feel very isolated and misunderstood. It allows the community to open up new lines of communication with its young members who will hopefully be the new community activists of the future.”
Breaking the Cycle Intensive Support Officer
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2013 Page | 1
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2013 Page | 1