The idea
Create after school activities for up to forty 13-18 year old individuals twice a week at our Harmony HQ in The Mall in Maidstone Town Centre. A free to access space where creative facilities are available in a pressure free environment including live music, song writing, poetry and visual art. Two & a half hour sessions from 3.30pm till 6pm on Tuesdays & Wednesdays where young people can build connections, investigate & experiment with creative outlets & work collaboratively on creative projects. Access to youth mentoring with trained adults will be available thanks to the professional & experienced youth mentors on site during all sessions. Youth mentoring is defined as ‘a trusting, purposeful & ongoing relationship between a younger person or people, & an older, unrelated person, which involves the exchange of support, advice, encouragement, & skills development’, which we’ve proved through our ongoing work to be a vital service with measurable reductions in antisocial behaviour.
What we'll deliver
- Pay professional Youth Workers for their time
- Pay mentors & tutors to provide specific support in music, drama and art
- Pay art therapists and councillors to work alongside young people
- Fund youth and safeguarding training for local creatives to work with young people
- Purchase art and craft supplies & spray cans for graffiti projects
- Ensure all volunteers and youth workers have DBS’s on the update system
- Provide warm, heated spaces with comfortable seating
- Cover volunteer expenses such as transport and parking
- Purchase Taskmaster Education packages to support Socials & Emotional Learning
- Cover costs of providing free food and drinks when needed
Why it's a great idea
Our activities will be fully supervised by youth workers, councillors & artists, so young people will have contact with trusted adults away from school & home settings. It will create a space where young people can be together without causing nuisance to grown ups, security & the police or have the fear of being evicted from public spaces.With only a small handful of youth services left in Kent young people are left wandering streets post school as they hunt for ways to entertain themselves & blow off steam caused by the fluctuations of hormones & the pressures of school & stress of life.
Keeping activities free will support everyone including those from historically marginalised backgrounds who have limited access to creative activities.
According to research on youth mentoring, recently commissioned by Nesta, a significant & growing evidence base demonstrates that mentoring programmes can improve outcomes across academic, behavioural, emotional & social areas of young people’s lives.
Steps to get it done
- Recruit youth workers and creatives in June
- Training and DBSs in July
- Preperation of the program and schedule creation August
- Prepare and share the marketing to local schools and youth hangouts in the Town Centre
- Project begins from the new term on 1st September 2026
