Community Power Podcast Series 1 Episode 11: Engaging the next generation in the Black Country

Episode 11: Engaging the next generation in the Black Country 

Chris Allen

Hello and welcome to another Community Power Podcast, a weekly series brought to you by the community wealth fund campaign in partnership with Local Trust. My name’s Chris Allen, and in this series, we’re showcasing some incredible projects, focusing in particular on what happens when you give local people the money, the power and the assets to make a real difference in their neighbourhoods. It’s it’s a little different this week, as I was able to welcome Tracy, Jen, Nick and Lewis from the award-winning Big Local Little Voices into the studios at WCI FM, which is Wolverhampton’s local radio station just down the road from Grace, Mary to Lion Farm Big Local area in Samwell. With me is series producer Beth Lazenby. What else do we know about the area, Beth? 

Beth Lazenby

So Grace Mary to Lion farm is one of the Big Local areas that’s made up of more than one natural community. So it’s actually made up of between four and five natural neighbourhoods, and they sit on top of a really big hill in the West Midlands, and it’s actually one of the highest points in that area. And so it’s been a real challenge for that Big Local to bring together those communities in a way that ensures that change is being created across all of them, and not just one of them. 

Chris Allen

Thanks, Beth. We’ll be hearing from two young people from Big Local little voices, Nick and Lewis, as well as volunteer Jen. First of all, I put it to Tracy that their Big Local area was geographically challenging. 

Tracy

Yeah, we’ve got four neighbourhoods across the Grace Mary to Lion Farm estate. Prior to Big Local, we didn’t really communicate with each other, but Big Local has brought us all together now. So we’ve got four neighbourhoods become one, which is, it’s quite good, but it was very difficult in the start. 

Chris Allen

Yeah, and it’s a bit hilly, isn’t it? 

Tracy

Oh, yeah, it’s very, very hilly. You need, you need your skis to get back down. Let’s put it that way. 

Chris Allen

That’s right, as it is one of the highest places in the West Midlands. And I was told, whether it’s true or not, if you go from the top of the hill, then you fly east, you’ll hit the Ural Mountains. But no one’s ever tried it, I suppose. 

Tracy

But no, definitely not. 

Chris Allen

Now you’ve obviously lived there right through your life, and you know, for a long time you’ve been working with young people, let’s not think this is just come out of Big Local. This comes out way before Big Local, hasn’t it? 

Tracy

Yeah, at college, I did youth and community, but never took that up as a job. I just took it up voluntary. And it’s 27 years in August. 

Chris Allen

Right. And the project you’ve been running is called? 

Tracy

Wallace youth project. 

Chris Allen

Because that’s one particular area within the Grace Mary to Lion Farm? 

Tracy

Yeah. We’re right in the centre, and we’re a 17 storey block of flats, and I’ve actually been in the basements there for 27 years. 

Chris Allen

And with you, you brought along Nick, and you brought along Lewis, who’s hiding in the corner there. Hey guys, you got involved with this, this youth initiative. Why did you get involved in the first place? Because it, you know, young getting young people involved in the projects, it’s not that easy. Go on. You go first Nick, because I can see you. 

Nick

It’s more so just trying to make a change in the area that I live in, because I’ve lived there done my whole life, and there’s been a whole bad parts and the good parts of it. So it’s just making differences for everyone else who lives there. 

Chris Allen

Well, now I see that, but you got involved, whereas lots of young people don’t, don’t they, and you obviously thought this is something you must be committed to. 

Nick

Yeah, someone’s got to go and help. And if everyone around my age doesn’t want to, someone’s got to step up and do it. 

Chris Allen

And Lewis, what about you? Why did you get involved with it? 

Lewis

I think mine’s very similar reason to Nick. I’ve lived around the Wallace area for all my life, starting in the flats, and then moving to a house. And I’ve got a younger sister. I’ve got younger cousins who go around the area a lot. And at the moment, the area, it’s not the best to go out in. There’s lots of troubles. The parks there, they’re not up to the standard of most parks around other areas. And I feel like through Big Local Little Voices, through the Big Local and all the help and all the youth work we are doing, we can try and betterment this area and make it a better place for children. 

Chris Allen

So a big part of your motivation was actually thinking about those are going to come after you, your younger siblings and perhaps then other friends as well. 

Lewis

Very much, yes, like my parents, and like my own cousins, also went to the Wallace youth club. And when I was going there, it was very a great source of fun. It was very open, very friendly, very welcoming. And a lot of people went there. And I hope that with help from different organisations, help with the council, we can better the area, make Wallace youth projects all around the Big Local area. 

Chris Allen

And you made a film, you started to make a film. We’ll put a link in the show notes so that people can watch the film. What, why did you want to make a film? Why do you think that might be powerful? Go on Nick. 

Nick

Oh, well, it’s just showing around the different areas, because we’ve all shown the kinds of crimes that have happened down there. There’s a part of it where we play as a thief around the area, but it’s there’s alarms on to make sure that it doesn’t happen more more often. We’ve done little picks down the area as well, because there’s giant fields and all the parks, and they’ve all got litter on that if someone’s going to go and play on the park, there’s not going to be much fun with plastic bottles. 

Chris Allen

And you had a bit of fun with you didn’t do it alone. You have a certain character that went round with you, didn’t you Lewis? 

Lewis

Yes. So we had Gracie, who is our mascot, and so Gracie is a lion, and it’s something we used to represent Big Local and Gracie has featured not only in our video, but also at a lot of our events. 

Chris Allen

And your work, and this tremendous video you made had some recognition? 

Lewis

So yes. So we were lucky enough to get the Police and Crime Commissioners award. 

Chris Allen

You say lucky. You deserved it. There was no luck in it. You worked really hard and you got it. But go on, Lewis, yeah, you got that award. That must have been a great honour for you. 

Lewis

It was a like the whole group, not just myself. It was a great honour. We put a lot of work in that video, and our main reason for it was to spread awareness. We have a lot of issues, and in this day and age, the best way to do that is through social media. So we adapted, and we put our issues and spread awareness through YouTube. And getting recognition for that gives us a lot of motivation, a lot of satisfaction knowing that the work we’re doing is being seen and noticed. 

Chris Allen

And Nick you put your head above the parapet, you sort of said, ​“Yeah, we want to make a change,” and that makes you quite unique, really, in the area, which is why you got an award. You know, this is different. And I just wonder what the reaction might be from others. But obviously they maybe then picked it up. 

Nick

They haven’t seen the video. They know that I go and do all the events and such, and they’re all for it, because they don’t, they don’t live in the same area. It’s more so just a whole, they’re glad I’m doing something about this part. 

Chris Allen

Right. So you do get some respect for what you do, 

Nick

Yeah.

Chris Allen

Rightly so, you know, rightly so for the hard work you do. Now in terms of the approach to running the club, Tracy, it’s not you’ve done a bit more than just get people together once a week and make a film, haven’t you? 

Tracy

Yeah, well, myself and Jenny, one of our other partnership members, we decided that we needed more young people involved. It was their voice. They’re the next generation. They’re coming through. They need to take over what we’ve started, leave that legacy. So myself and Jenny decided we’d walk those big hills. And we’d walk the Grace Mary to Lion Farm four estates in a detached youth work way, and just basically have a chat to the young people. Because I do believe if you treat young people, you want to be treated the way you treat them. So, you know, if you approach them in a way that they understand, then you’re going to get a response back. And we just invited them to basically an open youth club with pizza. ​“Come along and see what you think there’s, you know, you don’t have to stay. You don’t have to join”. It’s just a way of us getting young people together from across the four neighbourhoods. And that’s where it all started. 

Chris Allen

Jen, let’s bring you in. You’ve obviously been talked into this by Tracy. She’s a very persuasive lady. Actually, I’ve known her for many, many years. So you got involved with this, but it was something you’re very committed to. 

Jen

Yeah. Well, I help out the youth club anyway, and we wanted to just get more children involved with making a change, because obviously they’re the next generation, and we didn’t want us making changes is good enough. But when you want to get, you want to know what they want. So it was just a way of getting them involved, really. 

Chris Allen

But walking around the area, going to where groups of young people meet. Did you feel comfortable doing that? How were you received? 

Jen

Some areas, it’s a bit intimidating. I’m not gonna lie. But when you it needs to be done at the end of the day, you’ve got to find children when they’re out on the streets and see what they want. Because when they’re in the houses on computers, that’s not good for either. So we want them to do something they want and make a change they want. 

Chris Allen

And what was the kind of things that they were saying to you that they did want? 

Jen

They wanted places that could stay and somewhere safe, like play areas where they feel safe. Because one area in particular was in off the back of a field, and it was pitch black and there was no lighting, and it was it was quite dangerous in a way you don’t know who’s about. 

Chris Allen

And one of the strange things on this is that often when young people hang around in hang around in groups, you know, they make other people feel unsafe, but actually, all they’re looking is for somewhere safe for them to be themselves. And actually, when they are hanging around, they’re the eyes and ears of the neighbourhood anyway. They’re making the place safer. But they have this perception, actually, that young people hanging around not a safe place. But that’s completely wrong. 

Jen

They want somewhere they can be with their friends. That’s one reason we do youth club, because it gives them a space where they’re safe and they can just be with the friends and be happy and play and do what they would need to do. 

Chris Allen

And Tracy the safety ideas does that come through to you as well in the chat that you had? 

Tracy

Well, yeah, the area is, you know, it’s high crime, drugs, anti social behaviour. And it is, to be honest, the older generation. So by influencing the younger generation coming through that that’s not good to be hanging around there in, you know, there’s like we did in the video. There’s, it’s all about drug dealing. It’s all about crime, car theft, loneliness. You know, there was a whole aspect of things that the young people had discussed with us, and it all, it all, it’s all related to keep them safe and get them somewhere where they feel comfortable. 

Chris Allen

And Nick this idea of wanting to feel safe is that something young people generally think, you know, they don’t feel safe in the community at times? 

Nick

At times, yeah, because it’d be, um, groups of friends would go to a park, and there’d be others, and this just becomes overcrowded. Or if we’re out too late, especially in the winter, when it gets dark at around five o’clock and people are still out, yeah, there’s no lights, as Jenny said, on fields and such. So it’s just finding somewhere to go, where it’s lit, and then we can go hang around there. 

Chris Allen

And other places, you know this whole idea of territories as well, other places you don’t go to because it’s someone else’s territory, or is that not a big thing in Grace Mary to Lion farm? 

Nick

There are a few places, it’s not as big. It’s just there’s a huge field for Lion farm. And then you’ve got people at the top of the hill that all the hills, the top of the very hill, they won’t come down to the massive field, and they’ll just stay right at the top on the hilly fields instead. Because they say Lion Farm’s a bad area. 

Lewis

I think with this generation, street smarts has to be quite high. There’s a lot of issues that come around. Knife crime’s a big thing that’s unfortunately not going down. It keeps growing. And the issues with drugs and our area has those issues around. As Nick said, we have a few areas that are more common in these problems than others. However, none of these, a lot of these areas, haven’t mixed before. As a group, we’re trying to work on that and let the different areas around Grace Mary to Lion Farm connect. 

Chris Allen

No thanks, Luke. That’s real, real insights there. Now moving forward, Tracy, you you know you, you said you were you trained. Well, you did, you trained as a youth worker and community worker. But now you run your own business, and you’re trying to get that business thinking into the young people as well, aren’t you? 

Tracy

And obviously, as you says, I do run my own business. So I thought maybe youth enterprise business. And it all came from that we were getting ourselves T shirts and things printed for the Big Local events that we were attending to represent Big Local Little Voices. And it was costing so much money, and it was like our funding going down just on a t‑shirt. So we came up with the idea, well, the young people that, why don’t we print our own? ​‘so we applied for a grant from our Big Local area, and we applied for a grant. We got the grant, and, you know, it was 2000 pounds, and Big Local Little Voices set up their own business. We are on Facebook. We do. They’re on the market where my business is during the Christmas period, and we’ve got a printing and merchandise business now with Big Local Little Voices. 

Chris Allen

Now, looking forward those you’ve got a new idea for the area as well, trying to break down loneliness? 

Lewis

When it comes to the different areas, there’s a lot of issues, and loneliness is a big one. And we’ve came up with the idea of – we’re calling it the Loneliness Bench – and it’s in our major areas we’re placing benches. And the idea of these benches are to create a safe, open space for people who may not have anyone that they can go out with, they can talk to when they’re bored. And it’s the idea that people can go there, they can connect. It’s going to be a safe space that’s open for everyone. And with like this day and age where we have this pandemic of gaming, where people want to hide at home and they want to sit there and play on their Xbox or their PlayStation, we feel like a loneliness bench where someone can go to they can sit at. It would help with people interacting. 

Chris Allen

And how will people, how will people know that they it’s a loneliness bench? Is there something on it? So if you sit here, someone’s going to talk to you, so go and sit somewhere else. What do you put on the bench to sort of welcome them or sort of warn them? 

Lewis

As we have mentioned we’ve got our mascot Gracie the lion, and our plan is to get a cut out of Gracie next to the bench. And we’re also planning to put a flower bed around the bench. And it’s just this idea to make this, to make this bench a lot more welcoming and a lot more open. 

Chris Allen

That sounds absolutely fantastic to come up with that kind of idea. Any any practical problems with that Tracy, you know, we know putting up stuff is not always easy? 

Tracy

We’ve had a few issues with planning. And you know, I’ve been bounced about from one area to the other. And there’s, you know, this land belongs to housing, and this land belongs to parks and leisure. And, you know, you just keep banging your head up a brick wall. But we’ve decided as Big Local Little Voices that we’re going to put them at our community hubs. Because, you know, we’ve got the four community hubs across the estate, and two of them, actually, we don’t have to go through the council, because they’re church hubs. And we’re going to put it on their land, because that’s where we run our events from. So the bench is going to be recognised and noticed. It’s in a safe space. So, you know, that’s what, that’s what we’re working at now. But it is still it is. It’s always a fight. When you’re trying to do something in the community. 

Chris Allen

You are determined but you’ve been doing this for 26 years, as you said, I’m sure a bit of planning permission is not goingto get in your way. 

Tracy

Oh no, definitely not. I’m not being pushed away from this one, Chris. This is a Big, Big, Local Little Voices idea, and this one’s going to stay. 

Chris Allen

It must be very rewarding when you see young people, and many more than Nick and Lewis, that are gaining from this? 

Tracy

It’s rewarding that I’m seeing like generations now, I’m like, you know, I’m on the third generation of young people coming through my youth club, so that that is nice. Because the parents come to me, ​“oh remember when”, and I’ve got photos from years and years ago. So when the parents like, you know, ​“can my child join?” I’m looking at them thinking, I remember when you were eight. So, you know, it’s it is very rewarding in that aspect. 

Chris Allen

That is Tracy Lowe, who, as well as running the Wallace youth project for 26 years, is also chair of the Big Local partnership. You also heard from volunteer leader Jen Abraham, as well as Nick and Lewis, just two of the young people in the Big Local Little Voices, showing that young people’s actions and voices can make a big difference. Where can we find out more, Beth? 

Beth Lazenby

So in the show notes, we’ve included a link to the award winning video that Nick and Lewis mentioned earlier, and also a link to the group’s website page, where you can find out more about what they’ve been getting up to. 

Chris Allen

Thanks, Beth. And indeed, you’ll be able to meet Gracie the lion there as well. Beth and I look forward to you joining us next time on the Community Power Podcast, brought to you by the community wealth fund campaign and Local Trust, discovering what happens when you give local people the money, the power and the assets to make a difference to their neighbourhoods.