“L.A., Beirut? No, this is Moss Side, Manchester, mainland Britain” Sunday Times 1993 The young people who made the trip to LA had to earn their place with five community organisations each nominating three young people. The criteria for nomination stated that the young person had to be:


 Confident  Articulate  Exhibit leadership qualities  Ambassador for the area  Ability to contribute within a team  Commitment to continued involvement in sport/leisure within the area  Knowledge of improvements taking place with Hulme and Moss Side


The purpose of the exchange was to provide each young person with a sporting, artistic, cultural, political and economic experience that would result in a rewarding personal and positive contribution to their communities. In particular the young people would see the role that sport was playing in one of the most socially disadvantaged neighbourhood communities where anti social and gang culture was sadly a way of life.


Each participant committed to keeping a code of conduct and a daily diary to record his or her experiences whilst visiting youth projects throughout LA (as examples that could be translated back to the UK). The mixture of visits from a sporting american college football game (which one young person noted that college stadiums would put many premier stadiums to shame) to the Museum of Tolerance (a world-renowned museum that delves into the dark world of racism and prejudice whilst highlighting the Holocaust as the most extreme example of man's inhumanity to man). To ensure that the students were able to view the communities first hand they stayed with host families rather than a hostel or hotel.


The ultimate aim of the trip was to help remove the negative social and cultural stereotype resulting from the Sunday Times supplement that Moss Side and Manchester was as bad as L.A. and Beirut. “Whilst it was possible to go to L.A. for them to witness how they could end up, it was not possible to go to Beirut!” (Geoff Thompson MBE)


Comments made upon return


“One of the most evident factors I saw were the problems facing young people born into the deprived communities and the social problems caused by a lack of interest in young people by society in general. Young people today need a source of inspiration to point them in the right direction and give them positive motives to strive to succeed.” (Tour Group member)


The ‘Spirit of Hulme and Moss Side Tour of L.A.’ was an historic and memorable trip leaving a lasting memory and legacy of experiences and dreams that the Tour Group Members felt could be positively implemented and delivered in their communities. They returned with U.N. IOC citations and contributed to and established the Youth Charter’s Headquarters and development at Salford Quays. Tour Group Members also met with local community and city agencies, officials and contributed to the establishment of the Sports Social Impact Model and Social Impact Model that was to develop and take forward social inclusion programmes and projects through sport and the arts.


Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse The Moss Side Youth Centre on Raby Street had been in existence for at least thirty years and for much of that time had been recognised as being too small and in deterioration. Owned by Manchester Education Committee and managed by Manchester Youth Service the decision to replace it with a purpose built multi-agency facility was begun in the middle of 1990s. Inspired by the Spirit of Hulme and Moss Side tour of Los Angeles and delivered by a public private sector partnership socially brokered by the Youth Charter, the Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse was a £3million project that turned the dreams of the young people into a reality. The majority of the project funding came from the public sector (£2.8million of which 50% came from Millennium funding).


The Youth Charter socially brokered and established a project that took forward, delivered and turned the young peoples’ dreams into reality. The Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse was established as a registered charity and after five years of planning was finally opened in 1999 ironically during a spate of killings.


A Solution and Way Forward As part of the Youth Charter’s ongoing commitment to the legacy of the 1994 Spirit of Hulme and Moss Side Tour Group, it has continued an ongoing dialogue with young people, wider community organisations, charitable organisations, local councillors and MPs. A proposal has been tabled to Manchester City Council for corporate investment and a management plan that will see a return to the original philosophy, aims and objectives of the project. The new proposals will provide social and cultural cohesion with sustainable and economic long term security. The operational framework will also provide policy outputs and outcomes against the Governments ‘Every Child Matters’ and ‘Youth Matters’ proposals.


2. Social Exclusion Causes and Effects


Young people today are consumers. Whether they are ‘pester power’ to their parents in influencing what they buy or the ‘bling culture’ and fashion that influence the major brands’ social and cultural trends. There is one undeniable fact of life. The traditional route from classroom to exams to apprenticeship to factory to lifelong job security and pension is a far cry for the alienated and disaffected non achiever who, through non understanding of their language and culture are disaffected and excluded to an alternative lifestyle and career choice of anti-social gang related activity. The additional benefits of the new found ‘homie’ and family grouping provides a career path and progression with incentives and bonus packages not dissimilar to the square mile in the City of London. The uniformity that would not be found in schools but are now the brand or militarism of the Adidas three stripes or the swoosh and tick of acceptance that is Nike will see a symbol and geographic location be the difference of life and death. Add to this the earning potential of a foot soldier of up to £500 per day for one hours work, the greatest challenge facing modern day society is how we introduce a set of socially and culturally acceptable behaviours and disciplines that will not see the value of life being simply a case of ‘get rich or die trying’ as featured in rap star 50 Cent’s lyrics.


The economy of the United Kingdom has changed dramatically in the last hundred years since being the leading industrial and maritime power and controlling an empire that stretched over a quarter of the world. Two world wars, the break up of the empire and challenges from rising (mainly Far East) economies forced the economic landscape of the country to be unrecognisable from only a few generations before.


Whilst not the dominant world power the UK can still boast to being a member of the Group of Eight (G8) (a coalition of eight of the world's leading industrialised nations including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Russia, as well as the European Union), the second-largest economy in the European Union and one of only four in Western Europe that has a gross domestic product (GDP) in excess of a trillion dollars ($2.12 trillion in 2004). Banking, insurance, and business services, have replaced the industrial activities that accounted for much of the individual vocational opportunity. The low rates of inflation, interest, and unemployment coupled with improvements in education, transport, and health services have lead to a period of economic (and political) stability.


Fig. 2.1 Yin-Yang of Social Exclusion


This symbol (Yin-Yang) represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents “everything”, while the black and white shapes within the circle represents the interaction of two energies, called “Yin” (black) and “Yang” (white), which cause everything to happen.


They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.


The shape of the yin and yang sections of the symbol, actually gives you a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, Yin to Yang and Yang to Yin, causing everything to happen: just as things expand and contract, and temperature changes from hot to cold.


Positives


Negatives Copyright 2005© the Youth Charter


The consequence of this is that the majority of people are experiencing better health and rising prosperity. However, the gap between rich has poor has been steadily widening to a position in 2000 where the top 10% of the population held 54% of the wealth (LSE 2005)*; conversely 15% of the child population now live below the poverty line (defined as households with income per head below 50% of the national average)(BBC News 2005)*. Whilst steadily declining, this still leaves 2.2 million young people economically challenged (ONS 2001)*; the majority of these are situated in and around the major cities and conurbations.


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The references underlined in this report can be hyperlinked on the electronic version via the Youth Charter website: www.youthcharter.co.uk


*Refer reference pages 45 - 46


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