Government Office for London Annual Review 2001-2002 | Download the Complete Review in PDF Format here
Urban Vision
Question - if you wanted to discourage young people from criminal activity, what would you do?
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The Youth Offending Team (YOT) in Lambeth asked GOL's Crime Reduction Team this difficult question. They rose to the challenge, and after some blue-sky thinking, a new project was created under 'Urban Vision', a youth arts education project. Urban Vision takes place at the 198 gallery, an exhibition space and education resource that gives participants a unique learning experience in a creative working environment, with input from cutting-edge young artists and their work. The GOL-managed group engages teenagers from a broad range of backgrounds. Teenagers who have experienced social, and sometimes emotional, exclusion from their communities or who found themselves under threat of exclusion from mainstream education. |
"It's great," says Claire, "My first session here, I didn't finish one picture. Tonight I've done six, and learned two new packages."
All referred by Lambeth YOT, the group were tasked with designing and producing anti-youth crime posters for use on sites in their local area, such as buses, housing estates and underground stations. Claire, a young artist whose cartoon art poster aimed at deterring contemporaries from mobile phone theft, gained valuable IT design skills plus an opportunity to talk about her experiences with staff such as Lucy, Kareen and Olu. They are qualified graphic designers and illustrators - but also have extensive training and experience in working with young offenders. "It's great," says Claire, "My first session here, I didn't finish one picture. Tonight I've done six, and learned two new packages."
"The project, which has been running a year, gives the kids a chance to explore their creativity without the risk of failure". Talking about the project's successes, project co-ordinator Kareen is obviously proud of the positive impact she and her colleagues have made on some of the young artists. One former student came to her disillusioned and excluded, was encouraged to put his graffiti on paper instead of illegally on buildings…and realised he was an artist. Since then, he has left her to take up a place on a three-year graphic design course.
"It's about showing kids other ways of behaving," says Harriet Smith, head of Lambeth's Crime Prevention Trust. "To use encouragement, not just enforcement - and keep the project relevant to them". And have the efforts of GOL's Crime Reduction Team and Urban Vision paid off?
Answer - Youth Crime figures in Lambeth are down and street robbery has
reduced 50% between April 01 to June 02. A real result for everyone.
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45% of Londoners cite crime as their top concern. There are 25,325 police officers and they dealt with
2.4million emergency calls in 1999/2000. |
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