Youth crime is often seen as a major component of crime statistics in the Battlefords. There are frequent calls for curfew enforcement, Concern for Youth is constantly campaigning for enough funds to operate the programs they have in place to try to deal with street youth issues and ongoing attempts to establish an effective youth centre, beyond the current facility to incarcerate youth in major trouble with the law, never seem to really get off the ground.
When it comes to focus on youth crime, North Battleford's Safer Community Task Force might want to take a look at is the Street Culture Project in Regina. According to a press release, for the first time in Canada's history, a Canadian city is making a civic proclamation to honour street youth. The City of Regina has proclaimed Aug. 9 and 10 "Street Youth Days."
The Street Culture Project operates on the powerful premise that street-involved youth are an important component of the city and that these individuals want to belong to the community.
" instead of turning our gaze away from them, let's see them as young people who want to change they want to get out of gangs, they want to get off drugs and they want to contribute," says Kim Sutherland, founder and CEO of Street Culture Project Inc.
The organization has been around for four years. The non-profit says it prides itself on giving youth work opportunities to build their employment skills and confidence, and it sounds as if their approach is patient and persistent.
"We use the saying, 'fall down seven times get up eight' when we work with youth, Sutherland explains. "Sometimes these kids need numerous changes to learn necessary skills to be positive contributing members of our community."
The program, which relies on a positive mentoring approach to teaching and encouraging youth, began as a temporary summer program in 1997 and has since blossomed into a long-term, city-wide community development effort. Street Youth Days is, in part, a fundraising effort to support programs offered through the city's first youth shelter, now under construction and funded by the Saskatchewan government. The organization says additional funds are needed to operate the centre itself and critical programs aimed at getting youth off the streets.
The Battlefords already has the underlying infrastructure for such a concerted effort to help struggling youth in the community. An effort to build on what is there, adopting the respectful approach of the Street Culture Project, could go a long way to making this the safer community both municipalities and the task force are working towards.
