Daring to dream of a brighter future

Newtownbreda Baptist Church has been looking for ways to engage with its community. In the area, one of the major problems has been with teenagers getting into trouble. The main response from the authorities has been to slap Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s) on them.

The church had for years run a very successful youth group called ‘Breakout’, which caters on a weekly basis for up to 300 young people. Billy McClean one of the churches leadership team says, “We wanted to reach out to the more troubled youth in our community and make a more positive response than an ASBO.

“I had heard of an initiative called Dream Scheme. (www.dreamscheme.org.uk) that was started by Kate King in the Flower Estate, Sheffield as a way of addressing the needs of ‘difficult’ young people in her estate. The aim of the project is ‘to inspire and enable communities across the world to release the potential of their young people.’ Its motto is ‘Young people can do wonderful things’.

“Having got in touch with them, and working with the Castlereagh Community Safety Partnership, we started to look for projects that the kids could undertake. The idea is that the young people are encouraged to participate in a range of positive projects.

“We started the scheme in 2004. By May 2005 the project had actively involved over 50 new young people and also engaged over 150 of the members of Breakout. We now operate in three distinct areas and in August 2009 we had our 500th young person involved in Dreamscheme.”

The community activities include cleaning and litter picking, improving the appearance of the community through removing graffiti, painting murals, and environmental projects: like improving green areas, encouraging biodiversity, re-use and recycling, as well as intergenerational activities.

The projects are not just good deeds they also encourage the young person to develop their skills and interests. The idea is that the young people work on the projects earn points towards a Positive Social Behaviour Order (PSBO) these points then can be put towards trips out.

The project has had amazing impact

• The young people have established local Improvement Groups.
• They are leading the transformation and improvement to the appearance of the village and estates.
• There is a greater respect from the older people in the areas for the young people.
• They have received praise from the Mayor for the positive impact being made in the community.

Most importantly, since Dreamscheme started anti-social behaviour has reduced by 15%. It appears that the positive work of the church is having a definite effect in the lives of young people – and beginning to change attitudes among young people and about young people too.

Last Updated 24 November 2009