Brighton Streets Detached Youth Work Evaluation

In partnership with The Trust for Developing Communities

by

8th July 2021

We are delighted to announce the publication of our latest innovative study, putting young people’s voices at the heart of our research.

Over the course of Spring 2021 we worked with The Trust for Developing Communities to train youth workers to collect ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) data while they were out and about, and carried out walking interviews in the community with five young people who had spent time with detached youth workers.

As part of our commitment to presenting our findings in the most authentic way possible, we decided to produce a visual representation of our findings, using a map of the city that links interviews to their locations, alongside photos taken by young people, quotes from the data we collected, and illustrations. For more detailed insights, click here to see the full report.

The study was part of our work evaluating The Brighton Streets Project.  The project supports young people in Brighton and Hove by sending youth workers out into the community to meet young people where they are. This detached youth work ensures that young people have access to trained youth workers without having to access services first, and so it can be a great way to begin to meet the needs of young people seen to be ‘hard to reach’.

We found evidence that detached youth work:

  • Is valued by young people as it provides accessible support that comes to where they are and doesn’t require young people to navigate different services across the city.
  • Allows young people to form connection with youth workers that support them to make safer choices, reducing the likelihood that young people are involved in risky, dangerous or violent situations, either as perpetrators or victims.
  • Provides a useful way for young people to find out more about education, employment or recreational opportunities across the city.
  • Has a positive impact on young people’s feelings on connectedness to their community, supporting young people to feel an increased sense of responsibility to the places and people around them.