Labour’s youth strategy is very promising – but it must be consistent and well-funded

When we started Young Musicians Project in Sunderland eight years ago, we never thought of ourselves as youth workers. We were musicians who wanted to help young people write songs. We were setting up a music project. But as time went on, we realised there were other things going on. Music was the thing that got people though the door, but young people were getting far more out of it than learning how to play a guitar.

So, we talked a lot about the idea of creating a ‘third space’, somewhere that isn’t school and isn’t home. School wants you to behave and achieve. Even the most well-meaning parents want you to be happy, safe and doing well. But where do young people go to just be? We also talked about how we run sessions – relationship-based, youth-led, supporting participants to develop and take control of their own lives. Then we realised that we were running a youth project.

For the young people we work with, Young Musicians Project is their space: seven free, weekly music groups for 13–19 year olds. We open the doors, provide instruments, kit and professional musicians, and let them shape what happens. They choose what they want to (or don’t want to) make. They decide how quickly or slowly they do it. And they decide whether it’s for fun or because they want to do music in the future.

Read more:

• Alastair Campbell: ‘Young people need more than bursts of support to build their trust’
• Minister pressed on universal credit and child poverty targets as Labour reveals youth strategy
• Young people call on Rachel Reeves to bring in wealth tax: ‘Our generation is losing hope’
• Disability and poor health drives number of young people not in work or education to almost a million

We support them but, more importantly, they support each other. And they tell us it’s important by showing up week in, week out.

So, it’s brilliant to see the government finally acknowledge the importance of these kinds of spaces and this kind of work in the national youth strategy. In a decade where local authority youth services were cut by 73%, more than 1,000 youth centres closed, and more than 4,500 youth worker jobs disappeared, this renewed focus feels much needed and very overdue.

The effects of the loss of the youth sector are hugely evident in Sunderland. Within just a mile of our base on the edge of the city centre, we’ve lost seven youth projects in the past 15 years. This part of Sunderland has been historically underinvested in and regularly appears at the top of all the league tables you don’t want to be top of: child poverty, unemployment and ill health, the list goes on.

Youth centres were never a magic solution to deep structural challenges, but they were a lifeline. They were the place you could try dancing, outdoor activities or boxing (for free!), get help writing a CV, make new friends and get your tea. They expanded horizons, forged life-long friendships, made everything seem a bit more possible.

A lot of Sunderland’s cultural life grew up in youth centres too. Many of the musicians who are shaping the city now – running its venues, festivals and university courses – first picked up an instrument in a youth club. Sunderland would look very different without Sunderland Detached Youth Project and The Bunker and Lambton Street Youth and Community Hub.

There is a lot that is promising in the government’s strategy: there’s real money behind it, a marked shift of tone which acknowledges youth work’s intrinsic value, and a commitment to invest in both spaces and people.

I’m pleased to see the specific acknowledgement of how ‘meaningful activities’ (out-of-school activities) have become totally inaccessible for families on low incomes, something that is extremely evident in the cultural sector, where many children will never have access to music, dance and drama because they can’t afford lessons and they’ve been squeezed out of the curriculum.

It’s also very heartening to see that young people themselves were involved in designing the strategy and I hope that involvement continues.

My main hope is that this commitment remains consistent and long-term, because this is what good youth work needs. To become a ‘trusted adult’ you can’t be on a poorly paid, zero-hours contract. To rebuild the sector meaningfully, everything can’t be outsourced to charities and community groups who are all scrabbling for the same short-term funding. Young people need provision that isn’t going to vanish when a funding pot runs out.

The young people we work with don’t speak in policy language. They don’t ask for ‘meaningful activity’ or ‘trusted adults.’ They ask for somewhere they feel comfortable. Someone who listens. Something that has time to understand who they are. If this new strategy really helps to rebuild more spaces like that, then it will help create opportunities for more young people to feel seen, supported and able to grow into who they want to become.

Laura Brewis is executive director of We Make Culture in Sunderland and was a Big Issue Changemaker in 2024. Young Musicians Project is run by We Make Culture, a Sunderland-based arts charity which supports young people to make change in their lives through making music.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life this Christmas.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – or support online with a vendor support kit or a subscription – and help people work their way out of poverty with dignity.