The Vision Project

JUST SAY IT!
YOUNG PEOPLE
SPEAK OUT
On 26 March, young people aged 14-21
from across Bath & North East Somerset
and Wiltshire gathered at The Egg
Theatre for Just Say It.
The event provided a platform for young people
to share their thoughts and ideas – because DHI
believes that in order to respond to the biggest
challenges of tomorrow, it is vital to hear the voices
of young people today.
Helping to guide the conversation was MC Greg
Ingham from Media Clash, and an expert panel,
including: Victor da Cunha (Curo), Sergeant Jon
Raisey (Avon & Somerset Police), Sandy Hore-
Ruthven (Creative Youth Network), Richard King
(Children in Need), Niall Bowen (B&NES Member
of the Youth Parliament), Caryl Thomas (Wales
international rugby player), Jahnene Green and
Mike Grizzell (DHI). Listening carefully in the upper
galleries were a range of key local decision makers,
including councillors, commissioners and charity
executives.
On the night, 4 key questions related
to social exclusion were asked by young
people:
How do we make sure no one is homeless
in 20 years’ time?
The discussion revealed the extent of the crisis
in housing supply and subsequent rising prices
for those leaving home. Victor Da Cunha, Chief
Executive of Curo, painted a gloomy national
picture: a chronic under-supply of housing is
placing an over-emphasis on the private sector.
And there is no quick fix solution: large scale
municipal building programmes are required, and
higher levels of funding to support people with
complex needs in the short term.
But increasingly, even renting seems out of reach.
Alice, aged 19, had recently moved into her own
flat. But she and her partner had had to use
credit cards to cover the upfront costs of £2,000 -
pushing her into debt, even with a good job. And
while the rising costs of renting mean it’s now
common to live with your parents well into your
twenties. Jasmine asked - what if you don’t have
a family home to stay in while you save? What
solutions are there for those leaving foster care at
18?
What can we do to help people feel safe
without carrying a knife ‘for protection’?
Young people showed courage in sharing their
stories about knife crime, speaking honestly about
what it means to live in fear of stabbings, and of
reprisals for going to the police. The relatively small
numbers of reported crimes were challenged by
those with real life experience of the issue, who
made it clear that many incidents go unreported.
Mike Grizzell from Motiv8 (DHI’s young people’s
drug and alcohol service in Wiltshire) added
that three young people have been stabbed in
Trowbridge alone since January - and even one
incident has devastating effects for those involved.
Theo, aged 18, and the designer of a stab proof
garment, summed up the response of most young
people at the event: ‘It’s too simplistic to point to
a single cause for knife crime. It sits within a wide
range of problems...it’s a soup’ and ‘people just
don’t understand the effect it has on your mental
health - to walk down the road and not feel safe’
In response to the police assurance that knives
were rarely carried in B&NES, one young person
said ‘that over 1000 knives have been handed in
(to ‘sin bins’ in Somerset police stations) shows
just how many people are actually carrying knives.’
Another young person, Charlie, questioned the
police on their sin bin locations, suggesting that
they be placed in neutral locations instead so that
people would find it easier to hand knives in.
Richard King, Children in Need, said: ‘There is too
much tough rhetoric, and it isn’t effective. You
need to look at the broader issues, and see knife
crime as a community health issue.’