Intended Outcomes

Opportunity and employability

• Young people are more likely to be engaged in education, employment and/or training
• Young people have increased knowledge of education, employment and training opportunities available to them
• Young people have increased knowledge of youth and community activities and opportunities available to them

Support and safeguarding

• Young people have greater knowledge of the professional support available to them
• Young people are more able to access appropriate professional support, with fewer barriers to access
• Young people feel empowered to share concerns about potentially harmful activities, such as those relating to criminal activity

Youth empowerment

• Young people have developed resilience to negative (and potentially violent) influences, such as gangs
• Young people are less likely to engage in negative, risky behaviour

Crime

• Young people are less likely to become the perpetrator of violent crime
• Young people are less likely to become the victim of violent crime

Community

• Young people feel safer in their community
• Young people have a sense of responsibility towards their community

Methods

Most Significant Change

‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) was developed as an evaluation tool for community development programmes. It involves asking participants to describe what, for them, has been the biggest change since taking part in a programme. Responses are then analysed by staff who deliver the programme, who select stories that are viewed as particularly interesting or representative of common themes. This evaluation used an adapted version of this methodology to create a single, simple tool to collect insights from young people across the city.

• While out and about, detached youth workers asked young people ‘For you, what’s changed the most after spending time with street based youth workers?’
• Next, the responses were categorised and counted by youth workers each week. These categories were based on the Brighton Streets project’s intended outcomes. Some responses were categorised under more than one outcome category.

Throughout February and March, the Brighton Streets team gathered and analysed 41 MSC responses from young people.  In this report, we look at both how many responses were categorised under each outcome, as well as the content of responses. We report the extent to which they evidence impact on the Brighton Streets project outcomes.

Walking Interviews

In March 2021 we conducted interviews with 5 young people who had been supported by the Brighton Streets detached youth work team, to gain more insight into the themes we saw in the MSC responses, and a better understanding of the factors that young people report as leading to positive changes. We call these young people Olivia, Jeff, Daniel, Kiera and Grace*. Each chose a place in the city that held some meaning to them, and our researcher met them there for a walking interview.

Doing interviews outside, while walking had two benefits:

• Interviewing people in places chosen by them deepened our understanding of the lived experiences of the young people we spoke to. This helps to build trust, and challenges power relationships between researchers and participants.
• Staying outside helped make sure that both the young people and the researcher were able to keep safe amidst the covid pandemic. We kept a distance from each other, and wore masks.

We recorded all of the interviews and then we had them transcribed

Next, we analysed all of the transcripts, looking at which parts of the interviews were about different themes. We coded the data using categories based on the Brighton Streets project’s intended outcomes to understand the extent to which there is evidence of impact. In our report, we use quotes from these interviews to explore young people’s experiences of detached youth work.

*Note: Young people’s names have been anonymised

Detached youth work

Detached youth work is where youth workers leave their centres, clubs and activities, and go out onto the streets to meet young people where they are. Our evaluation provides evidence that, for young people, the main benefit of detached youth work is that it provides accessible support that doesn’t require young people to navigate different services across the city, and instead comes to where they are.

We heard from young people about the benefits of detached youth work, in comparison to accessing youth work in a centre. For one interviewee, accessing support out and about gave them a sense of privacy that was valuable when discussing personal issues:

“[Youth work out and about is] quite useful because there’s no one else around really… So it’s quite useful [rather] than if you’re in the [youth] centre and there’s people around that can hear your conversation, so it’s more private.”

In both interviews and MSC responses, young people talked about how they looked forward to seeing youth workers out and about in the city:

Someone I could talk to. Someone I can just have a nice little chit chat about anything about, make me feel a bit happy.

The fact that help ‘came to them’ was highly valued. An MSC respondent talked about the ease of accessing support on the street from trusted adults, compared to finding specific services:

Don’t have to go and look for help. Youth workers are there.

The drawback is that it is not always easy to know where youth workers are. Several interviewees mentioned that more information about where youth workers would be when they were out would be helpful, so that they could find them more easily.

Sometimes I don’t know where they are. Are they out on the street, where are they? [I] go look for them but I can never find them. Different places at different times.

One interviewee suggested that a timetable might be a “better way to know that they’re there”.

Olivia and Kiera met us for an interview together, and the three of us sat on a bench near the drop-in youth club in Knoll Park…

It’s near to our youth center, and it’s in our local park.
I would say [this area is] fun, lively, and, yeah, it’s a friendly community.
Fun, calming, and friendly.

When asked what the biggest change for them was since spending time with detached youth workers, 71% of young people mentioned access to support

Support and safeguarding

One of detached youth workers’ most valued contributions to young people’s lives is their ability to provide support on a range of issues. In both interviews and MSC responses, young people spoke about detached youth workers as an accessible support service. When asked what had changed most for them after spending time with detached youth workers, young people were most likely to mention changes to the support they felt that they could access, or support that they had received from youth workers (71% of MSC responses).

You come to us, we don’t have to go to services
Don’t have to go and look for help. Youth workers are there.

The young people we interviewed could name at least one service available for young people in the city, and most said that they would talk to a youth worker to find out about specific support:

Interviewer: If you wanted to find support for a specific issue that you or one of your friends might be facing, who would you speak to?

Jeff: Youth worker. Someone I could trust.

Everything I’ve learned from the YAC and stuff is from my youth worker. So everything I know about mental health and stuff is from my youth worker.

However, one young person we interviewed said they didn’t know who they would speak to if they wanted advice on a specific issue.

Some MSC responses mentioned limited access to other services, suggesting that some young people would be more likely to get support from detached youth workers than from other services. Specifically, several young people said that the biggest change for them since spending time with detached youth workers was related to accessing contraception. This suggests that C-card provision is an important part of the support offered by detached youth workers in the city.

There’s a reason we don’t have C-cards [to access contraception]. We don’t access services
It’s good to know about sexual health and knowing we can get C-cards from you

While young people spoke about getting support from detached youth workers, we found no evidence that this made young people more likely to access support from other services. It appeared that young people preferred to reach out to youth workers as their primary support and as a result did not go elsewhere. Our findings suggest that detached youth work is reaching young people with limited access to other services, however more could be done to support these young people to make links with specific services for issues they may be facing.

For example, three interviewees suggested ways that young people could get more information about other services, such as detached youth workers having a selection of leaflets with information and numbers to reach other services, or by putting up signs around the city about services for young people.

Interviewer: What would make it easier to access support services, both for yourself and for other young people?

Jeff: Maybe just maybe having a couple of banners about and information boards and stuff, saying a free social thing here or YAC here, a mile away from you.

One interviewee also told us about how services could be made more accessible to people their age:

Interviewer: What do you think would make accessing services for young people easier?

Daniel: More variety of them. More based around everywhere … More welcoming … a main person to talk to so you don’t have to go to multiple people. One specific person you can talk to first

Youth workers appear to help young people to stay safe. The biggest change that some young people reported experiencing as a result of detached youth work was support in avoiding or de-escalating situations that felt unsafe:

Knowledge of street safety
I feel a lot more safe knowing street based youth workers are around looking out for us

Three interviewees said that if they were out and saw something dangerous happening they would talk to a youth worker. One young person said they’d be more likely to report dangerous situations after spending time with detached youth workers than previously.

Some young people also spoke about how talking to a youth worker about dangerous situations could help stop things from escalating:

Interviewer: Thinking back to one of those times [where someone got hurt], what do you think would have stopped the situation from escalating or getting to a point where people got hurt?

Olivia: Maybe if you told someone sooner [rather than] keeping it to yourself.

This suggests that young people understand why it would be beneficial to share concerns about potentially harmful activities, and there is evidence from interviews that some young people feel more empowered to share concerns with detached youth workers after spending time with them.

Relationships with youth workers

Relationships sit at the heart of this type of work. The young people we interviewed had all built positive relationships with detached youth workers and saw them as trusted sources of advice, which helped us to understand what factors made detached youth work effective with these young people.

In both interviews and in MSC responses, young people told us that forming a connection with youth workers had been a positive, beneficial experience for them.

One interviewee spoke about how they had built trust with youth workers, allowing them to share more:

I feel more comfortable talking to youth workers now, as before I didn’t really like to speak about my problems or I was shy because like, to me, I saw them as just another person. But now you really make a bond with them and now you just connect.

Almost half (49%) of MSC respondents talked about how the biggest change for them was having a connection with a youth worker that gave them someone to talk to:

It’s good to have a connection with a youth worker. Who are understanding and non-judgemental.
It’s good to have youth workers check in and have someone to talk to.

We spoke to Jeff and Daniel in Tarner Park on a drizzly Thursday afternoon, standing under trees to avoid the rain…

[I came here today ] to play basketball. Make use of the local surroundings
It’s just my park… just where I like to go, relax, cool off steam.
Lovely, pleasant, and just relaxing.
Quiet, dark and fun

Youth empowerment

One of the key intended outcomes of the Brighton Streets project is a reduction in young people’s involvement in negative, risky and potentially violent behaviour, by empowering young people to make safer choices. Our interview data suggests that detached youth workers are having positive impact on this outcome.

While they may have experienced a reduction in risky behaviour, this wasn’t what mattered the most to the majority of MSC respondents. Some young people said that they felt safer out and about after spending time with detached youth workers, however none of the collected MSC responses suggested that the biggest change for young people related to a reduction in their own negative or risky behaviour.

After spending time with youth workers, most of the young people we spoke to said that they would be less likely to get involved in dangerous or risky situations. One interviewee told us that they would also try and support other young people to also avoid dangerous situations after spending time with detached youth workers.

I would try and encourage [other young people] not to as well. And I wouldn’t get myself involved in things like that.

There is a clear and plausible causal link between youth workers’ support and this outcome, as, in interviews, young people spoke about how youth workers had provided advice to help them reduce risks to their safety while they’re out in the city:

Teach you a easy way to get out of it… [a] way to not even get into it … If they ask you a job to do … you’d be like, no, thank you and walk away and stick by that every day.

You actually learn from the youth workers a lot. And change the mentality when you’re actually out and about with your mates and you see stuff happening and you’re like, ‘Oh, I know what that is. I don’t want to do it. Or let’s move away from them’. You learn a lot.

A second way that youth workers may have helped impact on this outcome is through supporting young people to understand potential consequences of their action. For some of the young people we interviewed, they reported that this made them less likely to engage in negative or risky situations:

Kiera: Yeah, I don’t run away [from home] anymore.

Interviewer: What do you think, for you, made that difference?

Kiera: Having someone to talk to when I needed it and the youth workers encouraging me not to run because there could be consequences to running. I could get hurt or taken, or anything could have happened. It’s made me realise that I shouldn’t do it because I can just go to them for help if I need it or other people.

Interviewer: Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve done something that might have put you at risk of being harmed? Say for example, getting into a fight, dealing drugs, running away from home?

Jeff: Yes … Yeah, I have. There’s been a couple of times actually, but … as I said again, you learn from your mistakes … you just get yourself into a situation where you can’t really escape the situation at that time until … of course you get hurt or something else happens.

Interviewer: Yeah. I understand. After spending time with youth workers on the streets, do you think your response would be any different?

Jeff: Yeah, a hundred percent because… My youth worker or the youth workers I’ve known or dealt with, they’ve made me into a better person… Because they … As they’re older, they’ve seen what’s happened. They know what’s not to do and what’s good to do, and they provide [information] for us …

Interviewer: What do you think youth workers could do to help other young people to know what to do in situations where they might be at risk of being hurt or getting into trouble?

Jeff: Just advise them to stay on their own path. … Tell them how it is. … use an example. Look, he’s done this, what you’re about to do and he’s sitting in prison or he’s either dead.

Crime

Detached Youth work may contribute to reductions in crime and violence. All the young people we interviewed reported that they felt less likely to get involved in violent situations after spending time with detached youth workers. Some spoke about how advice from youth workers meant they’d be less likely to be involved in violent crime:

[Since spending time with youth workers] if it was someone like, someone having a confrontation. I’d be, look it’s not worth it. If someone was having a fight, just leave it.
When I used to fight, I used to not be able to control myself but to go straight and hit, but now [youth workers] told me not to hit, cause you can think about your actions and control yourself. So that’s one reason why I’m doing a lot better.

Interviewees spoke about how detached youth work could help reduce the chances of young people getting involved in violent crime in 2 ways:

Firstly, through their physical presence out and about on the streets at the time

For one young person we spoke to, the presence of detached youth workers out and about reduced the likelihood of getting involved in violent situations, rather than a change in their own behaviour.

I only see my youth worker two times a week and most of the time I’m by myself anyway, or with my friends and something’s bound to kick off. It just is what it is. It’s life. You don’t know what’s coming tomorrow, or later on today. You never know.

Seeing youth workers out on the streets was also linked to a reduction in violent incidents for two MSC respondents:

Keeps us out of fights and gives us a place to be
It’s good to see the Youth Workers out and about. It’s stopping all the youngers being little shits

Two interviewees told us how the presence of youth workers could be a deterrent to situations escalating:

Interviewer: What do you think that youth workers would have been able to do in one of those situations to make it better?

Olivia: Stop it from happening or called the police.

Secondly, by supporting young people to understand the potential consequences of violent crime

One young person we spoke to told us that the support they had received to help them understand potential consequences had resulted in a reduction in their own violent behaviour:

I need to grow up, getting a job next year, could get sacked. So that’s one reason why I stopped fighting.

It appears that among the young people we spoke to, support from detached youth workers, and their presence on the streets, has reduced the risk of them becoming both victims and perpetrators of violent crime. Our findings suggest that detached youth work would have the potential to do so on a larger scale if more youth workers were deployed.

Another young person spoke about how advice from youth workers had made them more aware of what they could do to reduce the risk of being a victim of violent crime:

They just taught me some common knowledge. What to do, taught me some street smart skills … If you see a dodgy area, avoid it, you see a dodgy group late at night [don’t] go near them

We met Grace in Whitehawk, and walked around the nature reserve together after school on a chilly spring day…

That’s where I do my youth work
It’s full of life
Lots of people, really nice people…
Nice place… Friendly”

43% of young people spoke about feeling more safe in their area, when asked about the biggest change since spending time with detached youth workers.

Opportunity and employability

Our findings suggest that young people see detached youth workers as a source of support in relation to education, and for young people who do seek support to find out about training or employment opportunities, detached youth workers are a useful resource.

All of the young people we interviewed were in education, and some were also employed part time. Two had found out about the course they were enrolled in from youth workers, and some spoke about times when they had been supported by youth workers with issues in school or in accessing courses.

“I struggled to go to interviews and go and apply for colleges. And my youth workers took me to the interviews, helped me with what to say beforehand, and they managed to get me a place at the college that I’m at now.”

One interviewee spoke about how youth workers had supported them to improve their behaviour at college

They’ve helped me understand what’s polite and what’s not polite.

Not all of the interviewees were engaged in their courses, but continued to attend anyway, recognising the value of completing their education.

To be honest with you, it’s boring. But there’s nothing we can do about it as you have to attend college and you have to get [the] grade.

Engagement in education varied amongst the young people we interviewed, some young people felt part of their school or college community and enjoyed their course, while others were finding their course hard to engage with. Amongst the young people who were engaged in education, some spoke about receiving help choosing their current course from youth workers, but there was little discussion around youth workers supporting their engagement with learning. For the young people who weren’t engaged, it was because they found their course boring. As the young people who had been supported to choose their course were generally more engaged in their education, increased youth worker capacity to identify courses that fit young people’s interests and plans could potentially support increased engagement in education or training.

One of the young people we interviewed spoke about what kind of courses they’d like to see made available to young people in the city:

Maybe start courses for young people to get back on track. Or someone who’s … He’s got a criminal record and he’s young and he’s reckless … set him back on a right path. … That’d be a good idea. Learning social skills, how to speak to someone properly, like nicely. How to get a job. Just life skills really. How to cook, clean, stuff like that.

While some interviewees said they would talk to youth workers to find out about job opportunities, they also talked about looking for jobs online and in person. Interviewees did not see Youth workers as an obvious resource for finding employment.

However, one MSC respondent spoke about the support they had received from detached youth workers around accessing employment that linked to their training:

I saw Youth Workers about and then we did my CV, I said I needed work and they helped me get a job. I’ve had the job for the whole of the pandemic and I’m getting loads of experience for my career in garden landscaping. It was great because college closed and I could get my experience hours.

Detached youth workers are a useful way for young people to find out about youth and community activities and opportunities in the city. The young people we interviewed felt that they could find out about activities for young people in the city from their youth workers, and several mentioned that youth workers had shown them where to look online to find out more.

One MSC respondent said that the biggest change for them was knowing they could access support and different youth clubs in the area:

It’s good for one that youth workers got to know me and young people around the area and it’s good for young people to know about youth workers and what they do and to know where to go for chats and clubs

One young person spoke about the location of opportunities and services for young people in the city:

There’s not enough [youth centres] around the place. They’re all in the outskirt areas, nothing in the city to go to … It’s a bit far to travel.

Community

Detached youth work appeared to have a positive impact on young people’s feelings on connectedness to their community. Young people reported feeling an increase in their sense of responsibility to the places and people around them.

Detached youth work appears to have had positive impact on young people’s feeling of safety in the community, linked to both the presence of youth workers in public spaces and to young people’s increased feelings of connection in their community.

Supporting young people to feel safer in their community is an intended outcome of the Brighton Streets project, and just under half (43%) of MSC responses related to young people feeling more safe:

Feeling safer out and about. Trusting people around you
I feel much more comfortable being in the park. Thanks

A small number of young people spoke about Covid specific safety too, and how youth workers had provided resources to help young people keep safe during the pandemic:

I can catch up with youth workers, they help prevent danger. It’s helpful with the COVID situation, they give out masks and hand sanitiser to keep us safe.

All of the young people we interviewed felt safe in their area. One young person said that they had felt safe in their area even before they spent time with detached youth workers:

Interviewer: Do you feel safe when you’re out around here?

Jeff: A hundred percent. Yes. I’ve been here for 12 years. Nothing’s changed. Not my safety, nothing. Never had a problem there, never.

However, some young people spoke about the changes that they saw in their community, or changes to their perceptions of their community, after working with detached youth workers:

Before youth workers started going out and about doing detached work, it was more chaotic around here. No one was friendly to each other. And then, youth workers have brought us together by using the youth centre and the clubs they do and on detached work when they talk to young people out and about, see how they’re feeling.

Some MSC responses also mentioned changes to the way that young people saw themselves within their community:

It has helped me get involved and getting out doing something it makes me more confident in myself and able to talk to new people

This suggests that detached youth work has positive impact on young people’s feeling of safety in the community, and this seems to be linked to both the presence of youth workers in public spaces and to young people’s increased feelings of connection in their community.

Most of the young people we interviewed told us about ways that they had tried to improve things for their local community:

Yeah, we’re both volunteers… We helped at a festival and helping on a hook-the-duck for the little kids. We’ve also done food bank helping. When we were in full lockdown, we were helping sort out parcels for people around the community.
If there’s something wrong, like yesterday there was stuff broken in the road, I’ll report it … I was helping them protest to stop them from knocking [community spaces] down. Like the Valley Social Centre.

The young people who had taken part in community projects and activities felt that time spent with youth workers made them more likely to take part in other projects in the future. Some interviewees explained that this was because they felt more like part of their community:

Interviewer: After spending time with youth workers, do you think you’re more or less likely to try and do some things to try and improve your area?

Jeff: More. A hundred percent more. Speaking to youth workers made me think about, it’s not just me who lives in the estate, it’s about everyone who lives in the estate as well. Everyone cares for each other.

Grace: More likely … Cause when I’m with youth workers, I’m starting to know more people and then I get used to people around me.