At the end of February, Brighton & Hove City Council approved their final budget. Thankfully the youth services were not slashed by the drastic 80% that was initially proposed, but were cut by about 15% meaning that around £645,000 remains in the city’s youth budget this year. This was welcome news – securing vital services for the next few months whilst we prepare to apply for the next commissioning round and get ready to show the council just how important this work is.
So for the time being – Following a HUGELY successful campaign to #protectyouthservices across Brighton & Hove the Council will continue to fund things such as youth clubs, summer activity programmes, young women’s groups, bike mechanics clubs, street-based youth work and a whole host of other things that the TDC deliver for children and young people.
We can’t say thank you enough to all the people who supported the campaign by signing the petition, completing the consultation, and joining protests or the massive march through Brighton Town Centre.
Loads of the young people we work with have caught the ‘active citizenship’ bug and continue to be involved at a higher level in promoting the citywide strategy for youth services’ future. Huge respect and admiration is due to these committed teenagers; we’re extremely proud to be working with them.
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To stay posted on what young people in Brighton are doing to protect their services in the longer term:
join the Protect Youth Service facebook group
on twitter – follow the Brighton & Hove Youth collective @BHYCollective and our very own Adam @youthworkable
and see all our posts relating to the #protectyouthservices campaign.