Gold award in the Belfast City Council Youth Awards
Posted on Mon 28 March 2011
The group's youth worker describes their journey to this award below:
"The Young Men and Violence Project started in March 2010 and lasted for approximately three months. It involved reaching out to 10 young men who were excluded from their community due to anti-social behaviour. The project was co-facilitated by the Ligoniel Improvement Association and Youth Action and included weekly informal group sessions that focused on the issues that young people faced every day and how they had reached this point. After several weeks of intense reflection the boys felt it was time to move forward and the best way to do this was to give something back to their community. The group went on a residential to Greenhill in Newcastle and took part in team-building activities to bring the group closer together. While there they decided the best way to give something back to the community was by creating a community mural in a place that had become an eyesore due to vandalism.
In the end two community murals were created in the area, with the help of Blaze FX graphics company. The boys worked tirelessly on perfecting the artwork and in the end it was worth it. The group decided to launch the event by inviting the local residents and members of Youth Action. They talked about the project and how it had affected them personally and how much they had gotten out of being involved in such a project. To do this was an achievement in itself as none of the boys had never spoken in front of an audience before. The murals were launched by Hollywood actor Martin Mc Cann, which was a huge bonus for the group. It must be noted that Martin went on to win the 2011 Irish Academy Award for his work.
The group have all since completed their youth achievement awards and have taken up training towards employment. Many have commented that the project really opened their eyes and helped them realise that they were going down the wrong path in life.
The project was such a success that the group was nominated for the Belfast Community Safety Awards in the Belfast City Hall. They went on to win Gold and it was a massive achievement for the group. It’s brilliant to see how much the boys have changed in a year."
The huge impact of Fair Share Trust funding can be seen through these young men's transition from community exclusion to receiving an award for their acheivement and community work!
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