Just Youth Intergenerational DVD
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S2M-2703, in the name of Karen Whitefield, on the just youth intergenerational DVD.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates all those involved in the production of the Just Youth Intergenerational DVD, a project designed to challenge intergenerational stereotypes; congratulates, in particular, the young people and staff of the Just Youth Project in Airdrie, the community learning and development staff of North Lanarkshire Council and also the residents of Gartlea Gardens sheltered housing complex who participated in the DVD; commends North Lanarkshire Council for this innovative attempt to build stronger and more positive relationships between young and old, and further commends the Scottish Executive for funding this initiative through the youth justice fund.
I am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about an exciting and innovative piece of work that has been carried out by some of the young people of Airdrie. I welcome them along to the Parliament, and I remind members that they will be showing their DVD directly after the debate in room Q1.03. They will also speak about the process of making the DVD and will answer questions.
My small part in the process of developing the DVD began during a visit to the Gartlea Gardens sheltered housing complex, whose residents complained about the behaviour of some young people. They were concerned about large numbers of young people hanging about, their noise and, sometimes, their conduct outside the @Home youth centre, which is next-door to the sheltered housing. I spoke to Jim Paterson, the project manager, and suggested that he might want to make contact with the residents, and even invite them to visit the centre to allow them to see what happened there. That was the beginning of the contact between the two places. The work was developed jointly by the staff of the @Home centre, the dialogue youth project, the youth united unit and Simon Knight, project manager of the just youth project.
The just youth project is run through North Lanarkshire Council's community learning and development section and is funded through the Scottish Executive's youth justice fund. One of its stated aims is to
"reduce fear through changing perceptions of youth through intergenerational work between children, young people, older people and other members of the community."
The project aims to work with young people who show signs of impending difficulty and to prevent and offer alternatives to offending by re-establishing links between young people and the wider community. It uses a social capital model of working, attempting to build stronger social networks at a community level and between the young and old in particular.
I first saw the intergenerational DVD in February and I was struck not only by how professional it is but by the interesting story that it has to tell. The DVD was filmed and edited by local young people. In the film, young people interview the elderly residents of Gartlea Gardens. In creating the film, the young people appear to discover that the older people in Gartlea Gardens are not quite as different from them as they first thought. That works both ways: the older people in the film change their preconceptions about the young people from the @Home centre. One touching moment in the film is when the young people make tea for the residents of the sheltered housing complex and serve them in their lounge.
As well as helping to break down intergenerational barriers, making the video also provided the young people with a range of practical skills in sound recording, filming and editing, for example. Since the release of the DVD, the young people involved have presented it to the local area committee of North Lanarkshire Council and the Scottish forum of community learning and development managers. Such public presentations can be daunting for the best of us and the fact that the young people performed with confidence and assurance is a tribute to them and shows how far they have come.
The next step in the process is to roll out the DVD to local high schools in Airdrie and throughout North Lanarkshire, and a pack is being developed to accompany it. The young people involved in the project will present the DVD to their peers, pupils will be asked to develop their own intergenerational projects and the DVD team will return to the school six weeks later to exchange ideas. The idea is to encourage young people to become more active citizens and to participate more in their communities. I believe that it is an excellent example of positive, proactive youth justice work. We do not have to wait until young people become problems in their communities; the project proves that we can take steps to build and nurture our communities and involve young people in that process.
The project proves that, with a little effort, we can build relations between young and old. We can demonstrate that different generations have much more in common than they have things that separate them. From the reminiscences of the elderly residents of Gartlea Gardens in the DVD, it is clear that when they were children they got up to similar pranks to those that today's kids get up to. That is an important point from which we can all learn.
This seems an obvious thing to say, but the young people who interviewed the residents of Gartlea Gardens and who made tea for them are not only less likely to cause them problems in the future but much more likely to challenge other young people who cause problems for them. Equally, the residents of Gartlea Gardens are probably more likely to give and take a bit more with the young people whom they have come to know.
I congratulate everyone involved in developing the just youth intergenerational DVD. First, I congratulate all the young people involved in the project, who should be very proud of their achievements. I also congratulate Kirsty and James, who were the key workers who supported the young people during the making of the DVD. Jim Paterson of the @Home centre and Colin Coupar of the community learning and development team have played a key role in progressing the project. Last, but by no means least, I congratulate Simon Knight, the just youth project manager, who had the idea of using the DVD project as a way of challenging the mistrust that sometimes exists between generations.
The youth justice fund was a pathfinder fund that aimed to develop innovative ways of dealing with youth crime and antisocial behaviour. I am convinced that the work carried out by both the just youth project and the other partner organisations is of the highest quality. I am similarly convinced that we can learn valuable lessons from that work and I hope that the minister will examine closely the benefits that have accrued from this Executive-funded piece of work and will ensure that the rest of North Lanarkshire and Scotland can benefit from this innovative and creative approach to youth justice.
The project that we are discussing sounds interesting. I congratulate Karen Whitefield on helping to start the thing off and on the speech that she has made about it.
All too often in our society, some young people and old people in general are seen as a problem, but they are not a problem; they are a resource and have a great capacity for improving the community in which they live if they are allowed to. Having participated in the cross-party group on older people, age and ageing earlier today, I am mindful that, if we can engage older people more in their community and use their talents and experiences at all sorts of levels, that will be beneficial to them. Well into his 80s, my late brother-in-law was listening to children reading at the local primary school and was telling them stories and so on. Young and old can benefit from being in contact with each other. In many families, the children get on better with their grandparents than they do with their parents. Links can be made between younger people and older people.
When we started to research the background to the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Bill, we saw that there was often a lack of dialogue between the generations. For example, we saw older people in residential accommodation and groups of younger people who, in the eyes of the older people, misbehaved in the surrounding area. There was a failure to bring them together in the way that Karen Whitefield has described happening in the project in Airdrie. The project that we are discussing is a welcome development and I hope that we can learn from it. One of the failures of the Executive is that we fail to learn from successful projects or to encourage similar ones elsewhere. We keep on reinventing the wheel. What we are discussing today is a very good wheel and we need more like it. I hope that the minister will facilitate other councils who want to develop the same sort of project.
I congratulate Karen Whitefield on securing the debate, although, as people know, I had something to do with that on the Labour side.
As the motion says, the congratulations should really go to the young people and staff of the just youth project in Airdrie and the residents of Gartlea Gardens. Members will know that I have no direct constituency interest in North Lanarkshire, but I believe that the issues that have been raised by Karen Whitefield in her speech and in the DVD are important. I have had the pleasure of watching the DVD and I hope that those who have not had a chance to do so will take the opportunity that Karen Whitefield has offered them.
The underlying issue that the DVD deals with is that of intergenerational mistrust. I believe that a common aspect of our contemporary society is a growing intolerance of other people's lifestyles. As we have become more of a 24-hour society, difficulties have emerged in relation to how one person's lifestyle adversely impacts on someone else's quality of life and lifestyle. That is at the root of many of the difficulties that we have in places where groups of older people and groups of younger people live cheek by jowl but do not get on in the way that we would hope.
The mistrust and dislike between those groups must be broken down and the project that we are discussing has, apparently, been able to do that successfully, which is what makes it important. It gives the lie to the stereotype that young people and older people have interests so diverse that they have nothing in common and cannot get on because the mistrust is too great. Clearly, the work that has been done over the past year or so has broken down the mistrust that exists on both sides. It is important to realise that there are difficulties on both sides.
I was struck by Karen Whitefield's comments about the preventive nature of the project. That is fundamental. In my previous job, in social work, the frustrating part was taking care of things when they had gone too far and broken down. At that stage, the difficulties had become so great that statutory intervention was necessary. The most rewarding part of social work was preventive work, which aimed to prevent things from happening in the first place. The just youth project will be successful if it helps people to see that they can do things before authorities have to intervene on a statutory basis.
It is important that we acknowledge not only the work that was done on preparing the DVD but all the other work that went on behind the scenes. The project is worth while and is worthy of replication not just in North Lanarkshire but in the rest of Scotland.
I, too, congratulate Karen Whitefield, the young people and staff of the just youth project and, perhaps most important, the residents of Gartlea Gardens who took part in the DVD. I regret that I have not seen it yet—I have been whirling about the Borders today—but I intend to see it and to bring it to the attention of the director of education at Scottish Borders Council. I was sitting on a panel with him this afternoon and I will tell him all about it.
The title of the DVD is, "Age: It's Just a Number". I like that idea, because that is how I look on myself, and I intend to do so for a very long time. As someone who is now a pensioner, I am annoyed by the stereotypes that exist of older people and young people. I know that I look my age, but I do not think that I look like a pensioner. What does a pensioner look like? We are all different. We have different personalities, and it is the same with young people. They are all different; they look different, they have different attitudes and they are individuals.
Older people and young people have much in common. Older people are thought of as doddery people who do not have much to contribute to society. Young people are thought of as a pain in the neck—people think that their heads are full of nonsense, that they play loud music and that they do not have much to contribute to society. In that sense, older people and young people have something in common, and they can have a dialogue straight away.
Of course, younger people often get on well with their grandparents and bypass their parents and talk to their grandparents about things. When my sons were going through the pimply, difficult stage—they are still doing that and they are older now, but never mind—it was my mother or father who would have a word in my ear and say, "I think I should have a wee word with you about so-and-so. He was just telling me such-and-such." I had to be terribly discreet; my sons would not tell me things, but they knew that they would come back to me via their grandparents. Older people and young people have an awful lot to say to each other and an awful lot to learn from each other. I am sure that that is proved by the just youth project.
I make a tiny plug for the up to you project in the Borders, in which the Deputy Minister for Justice might be interested too. In that project, young people from Peebles High School go out not to visit older people but to communicate with the younger generation at primary schools about the temptations of alcohol, drugs, casual sex and all that stuff. They are listened to because they can enter into a dialogue in a way that middle-aged people perhaps cannot.
I say to the young people who are here that my only difficulty is that I do not know how to work a DVD. I could have a dialogue with them about that straight away. I do not have a DVD player at home, and I do not know whether my office computer plays DVDs.
It does.
I have learned something from being at the debate. I look forward to somebody coming to show me how to work it so that I can watch the DVD and publicise it in the Borders.
Any of my interests that could conceivably be relevant are listed in my entry in the register of members' interests.
I warmly congratulate Karen Whitefield on her success in securing this debate on the just youth project in Airdrie. I note with interest that she has kindly organised a showing of the DVD after the debate. I hope that the reception will be well attended. Having seen the DVD this afternoon, I am well aware of its great value and of the contribution of the young contributors, which Scott Barrie highlighted. Initiatives that seek to foster stronger community spirit should be strongly supported. Regrettably, recent images in the media have not always portrayed young people in a positive light. The stereotype of gangs of youths who loiter at bus shelters, wearing the ubiquitous hooded top, has done nothing to improve the image of young people and has intimidated some members of the community.
In contrast, projects such as "Age: It's Just a Number" help to address the fear of crime that is eroding the cohesion of many communities in Scotland. If adults see young people as strangers or adversaries, they are more likely to fear and suspect them. It is hoped that developing stronger links between members of the community will increase young people's awareness of their rights and the responsibilities that they owe others and will greatly reassure older people.
The supported outreach team that has been piloted in Airdrie appears to provide particularly valuable support for young people who are not in mainstream education, some of whom may be at risk of engaging in activities that might get them into trouble. Supporting such young people and involving them in mainstream activities in the community are good preventive measures that might easily help to break the cycle of crime. Such an approach is in the public interest.
If my memory serves me correctly, some years ago, when I was a minister, I had a trial scheme for closed-circuit television in Airdrie that worked so well that it now operates throughout Scotland. Such schemes create a much greater risk of detection and so are believed to act as a deterrent that reduces rather than displaces the incidence of crime, because much crime is opportunistic and committed by people who do not want to be caught.
If we are to tackle the causes of crime and disorder, we must deal effectively with the background and particularly with those who are persistently in trouble. That requires early intervention and identifying parents who may be struggling to cope and whose children are therefore most at risk of becoming involved.
Karen Whitefield's motion is timely and she is much to be thanked for lodging it. Such community-based projects develop effective approaches to keeping young people on the straight and narrow and so benefit the whole community. They are worthy of the Parliament's strongest support.
I congratulate Karen Whitefield not only on securing the debate, but on being instrumental in bringing together the people who could make the project a reality. Strong and safe communities are essential for a good quality of life. Communities start to break down when members of the community mistrust and fear one another. Sadly, that is too often the case between older and younger people.
I do not claim that the fear and mistrust are disingenuous, but much of the time they are based on misconceptions and a fear of the unknown. Projects such as "Age: It's Just a Number", which was funded by the Scottish Executive and co-ordinated by North Lanarkshire Council with the community's support, are crucial in bringing down barriers between generations and creating respect. They go hand in hand with building better communities, as the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive want to do.
Families come in all shapes and sizes these days. One positive aspect of projects such as "Age: It's Just a Number" is that they may give the valuable input of an older person to young people who might not have experienced that.
In a discussion with a group in my constituency of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, some elderly women told me that, although they often feel intimidated by groups of young people in the street, they are not really scared. One elderly woman told me of the relationships that she built up with a group of boys who gathered at the bus stop that she used regularly. Those older women want to see the good in young people. That woman built up a relationship and now, when she leaves the bus on a dark evening, some of the boys walk her home. That shows the informal relationships that can be built between young and old. That elderly lady can now change the opinions of some members of her group.
Older people need to remember that some of the young people of whom they are scared could easily be their grandchildren and young people need to remember that they would not like it if their grandparents were frightened by what was happening outside their front door. The just youth project has allowed the young and the old to see things from each other's point of view.
I praise all those, both young and elderly, who were involved in the project. It is not always easy for people to face up to their fears or to try something of which they might be frightened. Each of those young persons and older people should be congratulated. We should also acknowledge the work of the professionals in the team.
I look forward to seeing the just youth video and speaking with the young people later tonight. I may just have given away my age by referring to the just youth video, which is actually a DVD. I know that my constituency of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth would benefit very much from projects such as "Age: It's Just a Number". As Christine Grahame said, that is exactly what age is.
Under the Scottish Executive, we have been trying to rebuild communities that were devastated during the 1980s. In some communities, people have lost respect for one another, so we should encourage any measure that will build respect between generations. The just youth project has my full support.
I hope that the success of the project will allow the Executive to promote it as a pattern that can be used throughout Scotland. As I said, my constituency would certainly benefit from such a project, but such projects are not able to go forward without Executive support. I am sure that North Lanarkshire Council would like to be able to hold up the just youth project as an example that can be rolled out, given the experience that the council now has. I hope that the project will receive the backing of the Scottish Executive.
I, too, congratulate Karen Whitefield on securing what is quite a refreshing parliamentary debate. Too often, our debates in the chamber have been about young people's criminal and offending behaviour, so it is fit and proper that we should also spend time congratulating young people on the positive things that they contribute. I thank Karen Whitefield for giving us that opportunity.
I also thank the young people who produced the DVD, of which I saw only 30 seconds, because, for some reason, it would not work on my computer. Unfortunately, as I need to attend another event tonight, I will not be able to see the showing later on, but I hope to see more than just the first 30 seconds of the DVD at some point.
As someone who is subject to the conspiracy of the ages, I can testify that the ganging up of grannies and children is alive and well. That perhaps reflects the fact that, in reality, more common cause exists between the generations than one might expect.
However, the issue is what happens in our communities. As Cathie Craigie said, it is also about perceptions and fear of the unknown. We live in a society in which we engage less in collective activity than people used to. People now have fewer opportunities in which to carry out the same social activities together. Indeed, we live in a world where there is so much selection of social activities that, perhaps, never the twain shall meet. I might be wrong on that, but I think that I am simply reflecting where we are.
I also congratulate North Lanarkshire Council. I understand from my colleague Linda Fabiani—unfortunately, she cannot be here today—that tribute should be paid to the work that the council has done. Linda Fabiani attended a 50:50 event in Motherwell, where 50 per cent of the audience was composed of young people, with the other 50 per cent being composed of older people. Issues of the day were discussed and voted on with a hand-held voting device. Linda Fabiani was particularly impressed by how close the views and opinions of the two sides in the audience were. However, that probably reflects the perception of the middle generation, which assumes that young and old will have differing views, with no connections between them on issues. She also mentioned that the young people were, if anything, slightly more conservative than the older people. I am not sure whether that means that older people who live in Motherwell live long, bad and dangerously or whether it just reflects a change in society's perceptions.
I believe that young and old can make common cause on many issues. In my constituency work, I am often struck by the common concern among young people and older people about issues such as the lack of availability of buses and other means of public transport in the evenings. Making common cause on such issues is an approach that needs to be developed. As others have mentioned, so much resource can be gained from that exchange. I am aware of projects in West Lothian that take that approach, but they mainly involve older people going into schools to talk about poetry and games, for example. However, the more often that such connection work can be started, the better.
As has been mentioned, the problem is that we engage in crisis management so often that such projects are not seen as valuable or important. When politicians and ministers have to allocate budgets, things that are perceived to be soft work are not placed higher up the agenda.
We should probe the connection with the justice agenda. I agree with Cathie Craigie that such work is about fostering a sense of community and belonging, so one would expect it to be supported by a communities budget line. Increasingly, there are parallels between the targets and aims of the communities and justice budgets. I would be interested to know whether the older people at Gartlea Gardens sheltered housing complex ever stood around chatting to one another at street corners and, if so, what view they take of dispersal orders, for example. Perhaps the issue is debated on the DVD.
Anything that can be used to generate and foster mutual respect and understanding is greatly to be welcomed. I hope that in future debates in the Parliament—during both Executive and other time—we can reflect on some of the things that bring people together. We hear too often about divisiveness in society. Perhaps we do not spend enough time reflecting on the commonality between generations and the common cause that they can make. I am pleased to have taken part in today's debate and thank Karen Whitefield for initiating it.
The Parliament has been right to focus in recent years on the problems that exist in many communities throughout Scotland. What some people have to suffer is, frankly, intolerable, and it would be remiss of us not to address their concerns. We were right to consider what legislation was required to ensure safer and more secure communities and to invest in bringing peace and security to people throughout Scotland.
However, sometimes there has been a loss of perspective in the debate. Certain sections have concentrated on the negatives, instead of considering the wider policies that we are pursuing. The Executive has been at pains to stress at every turn that the vast majority of young people in Scotland are decent; that they are a credit to their families, to themselves and to the wider community; that they have much to contribute; and that they have a great deal of potential. We have also recognised that sometimes, through no fault of their own, young people suffer in a way that leads them into unacceptable behaviour. We know that we must work with those young people to help them through difficult times.
We have tried to strike a balance in the way in which we approach such matters, because we know that if we invest in young people we are investing in the future. We know that if we help to develop confident young people, they will help to develop confident communities. That is why, as well as taking legislative measures and introducing neighbourhood wardens, we have invested in a number of schemes that promote the positive side of things and develop the potential and capacity of young people throughout Scotland.
The project that is at the centre of tonight's debate is an example of how the Scottish Executive is providing positive support and encouragement to young people. The specific focus of the project is on building bridges between generations.
I am interested in what the minister is saying, but how can young people put in bids for project funding? If the minister cannot tell us now, perhaps he can let us know in writing, because it would be worth while for projects similar to the just youth project to be run in other areas.
I was about to describe how the project came about. It is not the way forward for the Executive to take responsibility for funding projects throughout Scotland. It would be wrong for Government to be involved in that and we do not have the capacity to do it. However, in the years 2004 to 2006 we have provided around £10 million for diversionary projects for young people, through the local action fund. North Lanarkshire Council received £700,000 over two years from the local action fund.
That brings me to the crux of tonight's debate: how do young people and communities become beneficiaries? A number of factors come into play. Cathie Craigie mentioned the congratulations that are due to Karen Whitefield, because we had a local member who was alive to the possibilities, was aware of a problem, sought a solution and tried to bring both sides together. In an imaginative way she approached both sides, but also approached the local council, to which I pay credit. Yes, we funded North Lanarkshire Council with £700,000 over two years from the local action fund, but it was the council that decided to use that money in an imaginative way to support 49 local projects, including mobile climbing walls, video equipment, youth services for people with autism, skateboard parks and a number of other things. A local decision was taken based on local needs and working imaginatively.
The DVD was produced with limited funding—for something like £7,000—and is to everyone's credit. One of the remarkable things about it is not just that it has helped to bring together two groups in a community who were ignorant of each other's views, feelings, needs, anger and frustrations, but that it has produced an asset that I hope will be used throughout North Lanarkshire. Cathie Craigie might want to persuade North Lanarkshire Council to consider what can be done in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth. The DVD might have been produced in Airdrie, but it has applicability in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Paisley, Peebles and anywhere else in Scotland. Its quality is remarkable, as is its humanity and the humour with which it gets its message across.
I do not mean this to be a backhanded compliment, but the DVD is probably better than some of the things that we see on television. If TV producers and schedulers want to look at something that resonates with people, helps them to understand issues and stimulates debate, they could do no better than watch the DVD that was produced by the just youth project in Airdrie. It is a credit to everyone concerned. It is quality and it is effective.
Karen Whitefield said that the DVD was touching. I, too, found it touching. It was interesting to see older people's ignorance of what young people feel, and young people's ignorance of what older people feel. However, the way in which they went about changing that was commendable. It was touching to listen to the personal comments that were made. It was moving and emotional to see how the barriers were overcome, suspicion was broken down and people engaged with one another. At the end of it, some older people who had been critical of young people said, "Aye, they need this and they need that, and we need to understand the next thing about them."
Fiona Hyslop asked whether older people ever hung about street corners. Older people condemn young people for truancy, vandalism, graffiti, stealing, crime and all the rest of it, but one of the older women said in a jokey aside that when she was young she used to go into shops and steal from them. Of course, if older people saw a young person doing that now they would be outraged. It was interesting to see that context.
The DVD is a remarkable production. It is well produced, quality and thoughtful. I recommend that those who have not seen it take time to consider how they can use it in their communities. I will examine how we can use it beyond Airdrie and North Lanarkshire. The project is an excellent example of how funding from the centre can stimulate action in the locality—action that has resonance not only for the immediate problem, but for the wider community.
I thank Karen Whitefield and North Lanarkshire Council. A debt of gratitude is also owed to the older people who, despite their suspicions, took the risk of becoming involved and who, like Cathie Craigie and others, were a bit unfamiliar with the technology. Their humour, warmth and compassion came across strongly. I also give my thanks and gratitude to the young people who have invested their time in the project; despite perhaps being a bit worried about how the project might affect their credibility, they engaged in it with enthusiasm. They have made a positive contribution, which I hope will be watched much more widely. I thank the production team, who helped them in the process. They have produced something that stands comparison with the work of so-called professionals.
Meeting closed at 17:46.