‘Second home’ youth service determined to continue helping young people despite challenges

A South London youth service that was on the brink of shutting down is determined it will survive so it can continue providing vital support to hundreds of children and young people each year.

Last year, Streatham Youth and Community Trust (SYCT) faced a major crisis when the previous Board of Trustees decided it wanted to shut down the charity for good, a move that shocked staff members and left the local community devastated.

Staff later discovered a large loan had been taken out which propelled the charity into a funding crisis, which saw the previous trustees want to close it down entirely.

What happened next was a joint effort between the local community and SYCT, who vowed to put up a fight and not lose the charity and its youth service.

Principal youth worker, Mark Wood told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We didn’t really quite understand why they were shutting us down, so a couple of us put our hands together and thought, ‘we’re not just going to let this happen, we need to fight it’.

“The whole community was put out, upset, and couldn’t understand what was going on – the amount of phone calls I got from people that came here 20, 30 years ago that were upset. Parents were coming in here crying.”

Staff are looking to sell one of two properties owned by SYCT as a way of tackling the debt and sustaining the future of the service, while a new Board of Trustees was established and are now doing things differently.

Mark says SYCT is still in danger of shutting down and might not be able to make it past the next few months however, he remains hopeful that things will change for the better.

He said: “We do struggle and with funding getting harder and harder to access, it’s not easy. So the future’s not great, but we’ve been through periods like this before where we really had to struggle.

“Somehow you get through it, and I’m sure we will this time.”

There are also plans to completely retrofit the main centre at Conyers Road, which was built in 1961 and wasn’t meant to last this long.

Today, the centre suffers from insulation issues and as a result SYCT has to cope with extortionate monthly bills in order to keep the building going.

Nicole Griffith, a trustee and local ward councillor, added: “We’re hoping to raise funds for things like retrofitting this building and being able to put in heat pumps or installing solar panels so it will become more self-sufficient because at the moment energy costs are really, really high.”

The life-changing work of SYCT spans decades, and many of the staff and trustees who are there today once attended as young people themselves. Many of the young people who attend come from low-income families.

Mark, who attended SYCT from the age of 10 years old, said: “For me as a youngster, this was my second home.

“I was always glad to get out of the house and come here and just forget about everything that’s happening at home or school.”

He went on to say: “It is like a second home to a lot of people. I have young people that come here and they’re here every night.

“Youth work is all about informality. It’s not the formal education that we get at schools, which could never offer what youth services can. They’re very, very different.”

A majority of the sessions are free to attend, apart from Friday nights which cost 50p to take part in – a fee which has remained the same for the past 25 years.

The main centre at Conyers Road has an art room and a sensory room and there is also space to play basketball and football with an on-site gym equipment too.

SYCT also offers “stay and play” sessions funded by Lambeth Council which take place a few times a week for families with young children.

As well as hosting daily sessions for children and young people, SYCT staff also provide essential support and mentoring for those looking to get into employment, education or further training.

Residential excursions have seen members head to Blackpool and Hastings while international trips to places such as Greece, Italy and Sri Lanka.

Nicole said: “We’re incredibly lucky to have the staff that we’ve got here. It makes such a difference.

“Once you’re brought in here, that relationship is maintained and that’s a testament to the people who work here. It is remarkable and very, very special.

She said: “For me, that’s one of the things I really don’t want us to lose here because it’s not just the service, it’s also the people who are involved in the service.”

Eamonn Madden, who is acting general manager, warned that if the Conyers Road venue was to shut down, close to 500 children would be impacted by the loss the building.

Eamonn, who is head coach of Aeon BJJ, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu programme at the centre, said: “I believe we have a good team, I really do, and the more we sit down and work through things, the more they say something positive comes through that pain point.

“We’re going through that pain point now, but I feel if we make it through that, something beautiful is going to come out the other side so, we just have to keep believing in that.”

Sue Pettigrew, who became Chair of SYCT during the recent transition, said: “A space like this, with staff who are skilled, passionate and committed, is really, really, important and it makes such a difference to the lives of children who become young people and work here as youth workers.

“We’re going to pull through this and SYCT will thrive.”