Outreach
Youth workers in the parks and streets, at the times young people are actually there.
The young people who need us most don't come looking
The young people aged 11 to 25 who most need someone backing them are rarely reading websites or waiting for a referral. So we go out to the parks, streets and estates where they already are, usually in the evenings and at weekends.
We talk first. The leaflet comes later, if at all. Over weeks, a familiar face becomes someone a young person trusts enough to try a football session, meet a mentor or ask about a course.
What outreach involves
- Youth workers out in the community, always working in pairs
- Honest conversations about staying safe, including online
- Workshops on the real consequences of crime and antisocial behaviour
- A route into sport, mentoring, and skills and work support
- Spotting girls and young women who might prefer a girls-only session, and making that easy
- Working alongside councils, schools, faith groups, shopkeepers and other charities
- Listening to what a neighbourhood says it needs, not telling it
Where we work
We work across Blackburn. Our outreach teams have worked in Little Harwood, Whitebirk, Daisyfield, Roe Lee, Bastwell and Shear Brow since 2021. Since 2023 that has included work on antisocial behaviour, sitting down with local shopkeepers and councillors to understand what was happening on their streets and giving young people something better to do.
What works in Blackburn is built to be picked up and taken elsewhere, and we've already started. We now run outreach from sites in Haslingden and Bolton, and we plan to grow into more towns, such as Preston, bringing the same approach and working with the people already there, rather than around them.
Other ways in
Most young people use more than one. For the full picture, head back to What we do in the menu at the top.
Work with young people in your area?
Schools, community groups, councils and other charities: let us know you're there and we'll do the same.