Scott, 14 years old, attends a YMCA run open access youth club on Mondays and Thursdays. Gang crime is very prevalent in the area in which Scott lives in and therefore, isn’t an area deemed safe enough to play out. Scott and his friends rely on the youth club to hang with one another and make new friends, outside of a school environment.
“I feel safe in the youth club because all the youth workers are really nice, they have a lot of fun, a lot of laughs.” Scott
Scott’s mum has been sending Scott and all of his siblings to youth clubs in the area for over ten years – they have all attended some kind of youth club since they age they were allowed to go. She believes that youth services YMCA are the only safe way outside of a school environment in which her children can play with other children and socialise outside of the house. Over the years, she’s seen several youth clubs close with no alternative place for her children and children’s friends to go.