Youth Minister Parmjit Dhanda Blog - Day 1

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Day 1: Sunderland 6th June 2007

Today was day-one of my tour which will have me criss-crossing the country in a mission to engage with the nation’s youth – hardly rock’n’roll, but a welcome change from the dusty corridors of power.

To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about it this morning on the train, with a whole list of site visits (am resisting the temptation to call them gigs) and a youth group meeting lined up for the same day.

But I needn’t have worried – the good people of Sunderland didn’t let me down.

First stop was the ‘Streetz Café’ in the coalfield town of Houghton Le Spring – and it was buzzing, even on a Tuesday afternoon. Here’s a place that only exists because the youth of Houghton Le Spring bid for 25 thousand pounds in order to rent, renovate and run the place – and it really showed in the way that they treated it - with… respect. Enough said.

Find out how you could get money from Youth Opportunity and Capital Funds

I did wonder if they were on their best behaviour just for me, but I have a feeling that many of them didn’t have a clue who I was – and that’s one of the reasons for doing the tour. The way our democracy works make it most likely that someone who is a bit older is going to be minister for youth, so it’s my job to be recognized by all 4 million+ of you, and find out what you want. What would you change for young people?

The next 25 thousand pound (Youth Opportunity Funded) project on my list was the Pennywell Youth Project in deepest Sunderland. If there was ever a ‘Planet Youth-Work’ this has to be it.

Although the centre is just four years old, youth work has been so ingrained in this area that they are now growing their own. A crop of youngsters became volunteers and then young youth workers, complete with degrees in youth work. Now they take their trade to the estates where they started out. It was quite inspirational to be around that amount of energy – sometimes I wish we had more of this in Westminster.

But now it was time for the main event – to meet a group of young people, and talk through some big issues with the help of the NYA (National Youth Agency).

They talked about how hard it can be filling in the forms for these funding bids, but how it made a difference and changed lives when the money came through – i.e. it was worth it in the end.

Find out about other successful projects that got funding

The NYA are going to report back on the discussion, but one of the big talking points was the role of the media and the way they present young people. I think that one may come up again and again – Do you think that young people get fair treatment in the papers and on TV? There were a lot of other conversations and comments for me to think about as we move on.

Today was a good day. I met loads of people doing things for themselves and their community. I met loads of people who had got involved with some of the schemes that the government has created, and heard their comments and criticisms. I got to play the drums, mix some records and even got photographed for the local paper. This is rock’n’roll!

Next stop – Hastings.

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