Meet Scarlett, a project administrator for The Sid Youth
This month we’re speaking with Scarlett Allan, a Project Administrator for The Sid Youth – an organisation helping local young people across Adur, Worthing and surrounding areas to overcome challenges and barriers through a wide range of positive and practical community-based initiatives…
The Sid Youth works with young people in lots of different ways doesn’t it Scarlett?
Absolutely. We run three youth clubs every week – a club for Ukranian refugees on Tuesdays, a Thursday evening drop-in session that is open to all, and an informal hangout on Friday evenings, that is like a traditional youth club. We also work with local schools to run workshops on wellbeing, positive relationships, knife crime and exploitation, and in the summer we run HAF clubs.
Another important way that we support young people is through our weekly employment sessions and regular money management courses and apprenticeship and job workshops. In a nutshell, we provide a place of sanctuary, fun and possibility. We’re here to support local young people to overcome hurdles and to ‘know their worth’. It’s our strapline because it’s so fundamental to everything we do.
How did you get into this role Scarlett?
I’m proof of how needed and effective the work we do is. When I left university, I found it challenging to secure work and signed up to the Kickstart scheme, which provided funding to employers to create jobs for 16-24 year olds. The Sid Youth was part of the scheme, so I came to work here for a few weeks and never left! I know first-hand how much it means to have someone support you, boost you and believe in you. I’ve never looked back.
What does a typical week look like in your role?
I’m a jack of all trades so there’s no such thing as a typical day or week! One minute I’ll be in the office sorting out funding paperwork or co-ordinating workshops with local schools, and the next I’ll be having a laugh with a group of young people at one of our after-school drop in sessions.
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
It’s amazing to see how much young people progress and open up with the support that we offer. I remember one particular girl who came to our HAF club. She never spoke to anyone, so we assumed she was just enduring the experience. But then she voluntarily turned up at one of our youth clubs. You could literally see her flourishing week by week.
Because there’s no onus on young people to come it’s really rewarding when they do come. It means we’re getting something right and providing support that is really valued.
What is the organisation’s vision for the future?
We’d love to get more funding for what we’re doing as there’s so much need and the sky really is the limit in terms of what we can offer and achieve. Long-term we’d love to be able to expand to provide support in new areas. We’ve already had people in the Chichester and Crawley areas approaching us wanting us to provide similar support.
It would also be great to have a permanent home. Since we started we’ve been based at The Sidney Walter Centre – a community centre in Worthing. It’s why we’re called The Sid Youth! It’s a lovely warm environment, but if we could have a permanent home it would enable us to do so much more drop-in work which we know young people respond to. It would also send out a powerful message to local young people that we’ll always be here for them.
Finally, if you could sum up what The Sid Youth provides in three words, what would they be?
- Reliable: Young people can count on us. They know that we’re an oasis they can depend on.
- Welcoming: There’s no judgement. We welcome you whatever your situation is.
- Fun: A lot of the young people we work with have stressful, chaotic or challenging lives. It’s a real privilege to be able to offer them a release from that pressure.
The Sid Youth is one of six local community organisations that benefitted from SLN’s Community Fund. The fund supported community organisations across Sussex providing support to local young people and their families to overcome disadvantage, challenges or barriers in innovative, inspirational ways. Discover more about three of the projects that benefitted in our lead story and watch out for our July issue when we'll be giving an insight into the positive local impact that three more were able to have thanks to the funding.