News
December 2008
The newsletter of Haringey Youth Council
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Ask coun Ask your councillor Youth Councillors Ben Mackay and Rumare Gilbert-Dillon tell us the why’s, what’s and how’s of the HYC
What is Council?
the
Haringey
Youth
Ben. The Haringey Youth Council exists to represent
the views of every young person in the borough. We look at issues like crime, the environment, and communication between young and old people, politics and transport. We often have effective discussions about improving the problems associated with these issues – recently we met with Haringey’s pensioners to discuss the frictions and barriers that often exist between young people and the elderly. From this meeting we have developed ideas that could help. I can bring back these ideas to my school and also use them to help the youth council’s vision for the following years.
Rumare. The HYC is a council run by young people
for the young people of Haringey. Its purpose is to address issues that are important in today’s society and decide how best to tackle this issues.
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you u ncillo o Why should young people get involved with the HYC? Ben. It’s good fun and you get to meet people you wouldn’t
normally socialise with. If you’re even vaguely interested in current affairs or politics then this is the venue where you can think and talk about them. Also, you can improve your local neighbourhood as the HYC gives you links with the full adult council, police and the local MP.
Rumare. The HYC gives give me a voice that is heard, but it also enables the young people of Haringey to be heard as we are representing them. The more youngsters that get involved shows that we’re willing to do positive things, but more so it demonstrates that we can make mature decisions for ourselves on issues concerning us.
How successful has the HYC been?
Ben. The Anti-Bullying March last year was a great success. Hundreds of young people marched to the Spurs Stadium, showing their solidarity with those individuals who have experienced bullying. That was great but you just wait for our next event. It is going to be even better!
Haringey Youth Councillors meet the British Youth Council
Representing young people in Haringey isn’t an easy thing to do. Everyone has different opinions on the way things should be done, there are many different languages to contend with, and the borough is considered to be among the most culturally diverse in the UK. Indeed, the job of the Haringey youth councillor is a difficult one. That’s why HYC members Funmi, Joseph and Valerie went to the British Youth Council to take part in Every Young Voice training to help better represent the views of all young people. They also received tips on getting, and keeping, a varied range of young people involved in the council. Cheers guys.
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Ques tim ?
Question time
Members of the HYC and young people of Haringey combine to ask...
Why do Haringey’s schools get less funding than neighbouring boroughs like Hackney?
Lynne Featherstone MP for Hornsey and Wood Green: This is an issue that is important to me. The government
uses different rules for costing and funding for schools. Haringey costs as much as any inner London school, but only receives funding as an outer London school. This means Haringey schools have to find the difference, which is about £736 per student per year. We’re working to get Haringey recognised as an inner London borough when it comes to funding for schools so the young people of Haringey have as much chance as anyone to succeed.
What is being done to prevent knife crime from continuing in Haringey?
Superintendent Nick Sampson: Statistics show that
crime against young people is actually down. What we realise, and what we’re doing an awful lot to ensure, is that young people feel safe. Three years ago we started a scheme to police the routes that pupils use to get home including bus journeys, and that has been affective in tackling crime against young people.
Paul Head, Principle of CONEL: We’ve done a lot in
getting young people from different backgrounds to communicate and understand each other, proving successful in reducing tension. We’ve also seen a drop in the number of weapons brought to the college through educating young people on the damage weapons can do.
George Meehan, Leader of Haringey Council:
We want to bring young people in to become a part of the solution in finding an affective way of dealing with all crime, not just violent crime. Crime is going down, but if young people remain afraid then there is still an issue.
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estion ime Is youth democracy and the Haringey Youth Council important?
Joanne McCartney, London Assembly Member for Enfield and Haringey: We’re
constantly in search of the views of young people. We need to know what young people think and what they want in order to decide what is best to do.
Lynne Featherstone: We need youth democracy, as no matter how engaged MPs are with young people, they’re not young themselves.
George Meehan: You can never have too much democracy. We need to make sure we can act on what young people are demanding. We need to use the HYC and the Youth Parliament to access the opinions of those who are a part of it.
How do you see the media’s role in forming public opinion of young people?
Joanne McCartney: Despite knife crime going down, the media portray a different story. It’s as if every second there is a risk of coming to harm by a knife. This makes people scared – the media is responsible.
Nick Sampson: Unfortunately, good news doesn’t sell many newspapers. I’ve tried to get positive articles of young people’s actions in local newspapers, but its difficult to persuade them to use the story. You have to remember that it’s the decision of the public to buy and read newspapers that contain negative stories.
George Meehan: Young people are no worse than they were in my generation. The difference now is that everything in the news is immediate and we hear more about it more often, giving an uneven view of crime. We must make more effort to promote the positive efforts of young people.
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Shou Out O Ab Shout Out About it!
On the 26 November the HYC organised their second major event in dealing with issues identified by the young people of Haringey (the last event was the antibullying march through in November of last year).
About 200 Haringey students, representing every school in the borough, attended the Shout Out event – five issues identified by members of the Youth Council were up for discussion: • • • • •
Poverty Environment Sex and relationships Gun and knife crime Intergenerational dialogue
(which means communication between young people and those of older generations)
Each issue had a workshop hosted by members of the HYC and everyone got to attend two workshops. Everything discussed was recorded and reported back to the entire group so everyone knew what had been discussed (we’ll feature the Shout Out event in full next issue of Exposure). All opinions were gathered up and taken back to the HYC headquarters. As well as students making their own pledges for action, say on recycling in their schools, all their ideas and opinions will inform decision makers on what Haringey young people’s priorities are. It wasn’t all business though; along with lots of West Indian food (as always) the event gave some of Haringey’s young artists the chance to showcase their talent. There were dance acts, poetry and music to entertain while everyone recovered from all that discussing and thinking!
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out ut boutt b U.K. Youth Parliament 2009 elections
Have you ever fancied yourself as a bit of a young Tony Blair or David Cameron? No, neither have we, but if you want to improve the environment around you, there’s no better way to do it than getting involved in local government and politics. And if that’s something you can even begin to contemplate then now is the time to act as the UK Youth Parliament elections are fast approaching. If you’re interested but are unsure whether you even want to stand as a candidate then you should attend the Elections workshop on Saturday 6 December 2008, 10am – 4pm at 10 Bruce grove, Tottenham, N17 6RA
As well as discussing issues essential to politics like citizenship, democracy and dictatorship, you’ll also be fully prepared for life as a councillor. You’ll be given a full explanation on the UK Youth Parliament – what it is and why you should be involved. You’ll be able to experience a group debate, and will be given help in drawing up your manifesto (don’t panic: If you’ve had ideas about what you want to change, you’ve already made a good start on it!)
So if you’ve ever been frustrated with the way young people are treated, annoyed at the lack of opportunities available to you, had a fantastic idea that needs to be heard, or feel you know how to best communicate the needs of young people, then this is first step to doing something about it. If Barack Obama can become the first black President of the United States despite adversity and racial prejudice, you can make a positive change for young people in Haringey. Yes You Can!
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News The Haringey Youth Council is open to all young people aged between 11-19 years who live or study in Haringey. You could be a voice for the young people of the borough. You can make positive changes to the environment around you, directly benefit the people who live in Haringey, making it a safer, more enjoyable place to be. If you want to make a change, the HYC is the place to make it happen. Email: youthcouncil@haringey.gov.uk or visit www.youthspace/haringey.gov.uk to find out more and get involved.
HYC News was produced by Haringey Youth Council Media & Marketing Group with help from young people at Exposure.
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