RETHINK? YOUTH PROJECTS
 |
YOUTH in the ENVIRONMENT The RETHINK? youth project has evolved as an arm of the Community Assisted Projects. Community Asssited projects are a complex partnership and network hub to which the Celtic Heritage Trust are very proud to be assocaited with.
|
UK Youth of today have a great deal more to contend with than we did when we were younger- Although from the outside one might consider today’s youth to be very fortunate- they have amazing technologies at their disposal ‘or do they?’ there are no wars impinging on their general day to day lifestyles and to be honest if it were not for the media then we would not know about wars happening elsewhere anyway. This is an important point because it is the media that we should focus upon at the offset. – The media often present our youth as ‘irresponsible individual’s hell bent on drinking as much as possible and causing for fear, violence and destruction’ in our communities. But that image is very wrong in the widest sense- and only creates for a platform that will perpetuate those poor images. So RETHINK? recognizes some of the issues that confront today’s youth and seek to support the initiatives that urge actions that reduce and/or meet head-on the concerns that affect our young people. Rethink is one such initiative and was formed to counter some of the affects that trouble the young people within our societies especially those that live in social housing frameworks, where often very little support is freely available. |
 |
Youth in these situations generally believe that they facing a somewhat bleak outlook; this is compounded by an evidenced lack of local training and job opportunities. Issues such as these can only serve to decrease young people’s confidence levels and create the scenario for lack of self esteem. The very environment that young people live create for important personal building blocks and clean green areas help to develop the sense of belonging and pride two vital elements for the creation of community cohesion. Frustration is associated with the knowledge that you are unable to do something and frustration will kick in when young people see their urban or ‘life’ environments in a chaotic state and feel they are helpless to do anything. You must consider that an environment will often reflect the communities that have or do reside there no matter what age. These are important issues for youth of today so we the R?think initative have developed a project to help address these issues this involves engaging with our young communities at an action level to decide together what issues are paramount and how together we can work out solutions. Our first implementation of the project is by way of a community litter pick both involving four to eleven year olds and more mature twelve to nineteen age group. Just a litter pick you might think – no - this intern gives our younger communities a sense of responsibility and pride in that they are actively making decisions and implementing the actions to better their environments. The younger junior park wardens take part directly in your areas busy in their local parks and in their eyes they are helping to make it a better safer place for their families, sisters, brothers, friends and their communities. This really encourages a great sense of worth and value for these youngsters. |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Mature Park Wardens Our mature park rangers take on advanced responsibilities whereon they engage at a wider level - going out to local beaches and places of interest and through their organization and action orientated litter pick provide their communities and visitors a space free of the rubbish and clutter that impinge on nature and indeed the beauty of our countryside. Again our youth members gain a great deal from these exercises they gain personal fulfillment by way of self esteem and develop increased confidence and pride in their ‘life’ environments. We provide young people the tools to enable their own values to be explored – and as you are aware ‘values’ are vital for personal growth |
Partnerships We have strong links with Local and County Councils and communities alike and we are currently working with some young people from Redruth North alongside our Honorable Local Mayor on a project with the aim of developing and implementing a creative arts mural for the local park. This project will enable ‘expression’ and culture through creative managed mechanisms; hopefully this will inspire young peoples feeling of confidence and belonging in what they would like their surroundings to emulate, including their impressions of where they live. Clearly this will increase partnerships and networking opportunities within the local community. Businesses would be likely to endorse such positive projects within their local area that would enhance local distinctiveness and increase a healthier lifestyle and environment for all. The Rethink? Project work alongside CPO’s(Community Police Officers) to help identify specific local issues, thus we can ensure that we develop objectives that address community cohesion and a functioning society at grassroots level. We believe in ‘inclusiveness’ and that each individual can make a real difference to outcomes relating to themselves and their communities alike - through personnel development. In line with our child protection policy we do require a consent form for activities, clearly this would be filled out by a parent or guardian with regard to the younger members of your community, this combined with the Rangers initiative as being older brothers and sisters in most cases, this ensures a safe environment is achieved at all times. |
 |
|
Reward Days As part of an incentive scheme we will be taking the park rangers for ‘reward days’ out to places such as quad biking and horse riding centers. Clearly this will be a wonderful opportunity for citizen awareness raising - we have the potential to develop this into an educational catalyst that will assist the younger community. We can for example utilize ‘reward days’ by selecting those activities that will embrace ‘social cohesion and encourage the perception of belonging to their natural environment’ while enjoying the benefits of wider education in many key skills. Since the project inception we have a number of incentives and are currently running sister projects in the Camborne (Park- an-Tansys) and Redruth (Pengegon) areas. These projects are highly successful and are becoming increasingly popular through snowballing techniques and have created for a strong sense of community teamwork creating for that much welcomed interaction with the local natural and built environments. The success has enabled us to record and document the potential of the younger community members and the importance of the ReThink? Community Ranger’s ability to monitor the ReThink? Junior Park Wardens by good example.
This arrangement provides an excellent knowledge transfer conduit and is ‘positive peer pressure’ for the Junior Park Wardens the arrangement also empowers the Community Rangers with excellent core values and civic responsibility. These actions are parallel with Every Child Matters policy and Active Learning through Active Citizenship recommendations. (set up to give the younger generation a more level playing field and nurture more social cohesion within our communities).
|
|
