First ever Streatham Youth Summit held
Chuka Umunna, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Streatham, and Keith Hill, Labour MP for Streatham, hold the first ever “Streatham Youth Summit” in Parliament for local community groups and agencies working with young people.
The first ever “Streatham Youth Summit” organised by Keith Hill MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Streatham, and Chuka Umunna, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham, took place on 13 March 2009.
The event, hosted by Mr Hill at the House of Commons, was attended by 10 different community groups, senior officers from Lambeth Council’s Youth Service and the Metropolitan Police, all of whom work with young people in the area.
The tragic murders of James Smartt Ford (aged 16) at Streatham ice rink and that of Billy Cox (16) in nearby Clapham in February 2007 sparked a national debate about the state of urban youth and marked the start of a national trend which saw 30 teenage murders in London last year.
Umunna and Hill organised the summit in order to give local groups working with young people the chance to air their concerns, to find out the difficulties they face in running their organisations and to get an overview of the state of youth provision in the constituency of Streatham, which is demographically one of the youngest parliamentary constituencies in the country.
Commenting on the event, Umunna, said:
“I grew up in this area during the 1980s when our school fields were being sold off by Margaret Thatcher and youth clubs were shutting down week on week for want of funding.
“This Labour government is ploughing millions into youth provision so that we can provide more things for our young people to do – Keith and I want to ensure that as much of that money works its way to our local youth groups as possible.”
Mr Hill said:
“I am so proud that we have so many grass roots organisations working with young people in this constituency to raise aspirations and get the very best out of our youth.
“Our young people are bright, dynamic and talented but their energies must be channeled which is why supporting our thriving voluntary sector is absolutely essential.”
The event was addressed by Mr Hill and Mr Umunna, in addition to Cllr Florence Nosegbe, Lambeth Deputy Cabinet Member for Youth, Glen Neil, Project Manager of the Palace Project in Streatham Hill, and Clive Winter, General Manager of the Streatham Youth and Community Trust.
Mr Neil said:
“For a relatively new, small organisation like the Palace, the event gave us an invaluable opportunity to share expertise and knowledge, and network with other groups in the area working with young people.
“For me the key to delivering for young people here is engagement, encouragement, empowerment and enablement, which requires both the groups concerned and the statutory organisations to communicate and work together.”
Mr Winter said:
“We have been working with young people in the locality since 1946.
“The event gave us a chance to set out the issues we face in keeping ourselves going to the politicians, Council officers and the police.
“The main issue for any organisation like ours is the need to secure long term core funding – this is a constant challenge”.
Better communication between groups working with young people was cited as a necessity by those present. As a result, Mr Hill and Mr Umunna announced they would be setting up a new online “Streatham Youth Network” for those working with young people in the area, which all those in attendance signed up to.
