Youthspaces

Groundfloor is an initiative developed by YMCA Cork to provide a youthspace that is run by young people for young people.

How was the need for your project first identified?

In 2010, YMCA Cork was winding down two different projects: One (Nino's) was a Newcomer's Support project and the other (Operation Cork Music Blast) was a youth led music initiative. Many of the participants were still engaged with the YMCA, but it was time to develop new ways for them to be involved. At the same time, the young leaders from our leaders training programme were developing a weekly youth café (later to be dubbed Monday Night Live). All three of these streams came together when the participants began to dream of repurposing an unused area in our building. With the help of the Cork City youth council (Comhairle na nÓg), the young people conducted an in depth needs analysis among their peers and discovered that city centre young people were most in need of a safe place to spend their free time in evenings and on weekends, with supportive adults, fun activities and using an informal approach. They made a successful proposal to the YMCA Board of Management and in May 2011, opened the doors on GroundFloor, a brand new youth space.

What are your project’s aims or objectives?

• Make Friends - Young people in GroundFloor are into everything from sports to music to school to video games. The only common feature is that everyone feels welcome. Young leaders put a high priority on reaching out to new people and maintaining a warm atmosphere. Because of this, young people have increased confidence and are supported to create healthier relationships.

• Make Music - Young people love using our music studio to produce their own recordings or rehearse with their bands. They take the lead in organising open mic events and gigs. This has turned out to be a great way to meet new young people, as well as to develop their leadership ability and self-expression.

• Make Progress - GroundFloor seeks to help young people with any challenges they may be facing, from substance abuse to immigration, to social exclusion, mental health, employment and family problems. The atmosphere may be informal, but everyone who gets involved in GroundFloor soon discovers that it is an open door to significant support for life's ups and downs. Young leaders are trained to support their peers and point the way to professional youth work where needed.

• Make a Difference - Finally, the young leaders of GroundFloor are excited to be making a real impact on Cork City Centre. About 200 young people use GroundFloor regularly and we are becoming well known as a safe place for young people to be their best self! In 2015, GroundFloor was named Cork City's Children and Youth Affairs Project of the Year and received the Lord Mayor's Community and Voluntary Award.

What were some of the highlights for the programme during the past year?

In April, the leaders from the Leaders in Training programme held Youth Spaces Day, an event to showcase the various activities and services that youth spaces can offer young people, and the positive and practical impact of these services. In August, we hosted the youth event for Cork Loves Music, an initiative to raise awareness of music opportunities in the city. Besides larger events, there were dozens of recording projects, several youth led gigs, and significant personal progress made by many participants. Every day, we are excited to see young people making progress in their health, confidence, relationships, employment opportunities and life direction.

How does your project try to capture or measure the outcomes for young people/the community?

GroundFloor staff have a system in place called Engagement Reports where they record short descriptions of significant encounters with young people. They write a few sentences about what happened and classify each one according to impact categories. These Engagement Reports give us a sense of the benefits that young people are getting from the project and help us to put our energy into the most helpful activities.

What new challenges/opportunities has your project identified that it would hope to tackle in the future?

This years' priority is to engage further with the group we currently have and to help integrate the various communities who use the space. In particular, we are working with several living in Direct Provision Centres and other newcomers and we aim to support them as they find their place in Cork's society.

In their words:

"I always wonder if life would have been the same if it wasn’t for Groundfloor but I highly doubt it!! ... I’m one of the many who has been majorly impacted through Groundfloor." - Rapha

"When you’re just a teenager, it’s amazing to have someone believe in you and what you’re capable of. I feel GroundFloor is a place for young people to discover opportunities they didn’t know existed for them, a place where someone always believes you, even when you don’t believe in yourself." - Megan