Making space for young people is an essential part of a functioning society,” writes Emma Warren in Up the Youth Club. All too often, it is up to young people themselves, and a few dedicated adults, to carve out that space and keep it open with the meagre state or private funds available.
The widely held idea that youth clubs exist primarily to keep youths off the streets isn’t quite accurate, as the author posits. Firstly, this implies that “pavements are bad places”, or that young people have less right to simply exist in public than adults. Instead, Warren insists, youth clubs are powerful engines of subculture bringing together youngsters from less privileged backgrounds and giving them the means and support to become cultural engines. Or simply hang out somewhere warm and safe.
