LOCATED in Upper Meadow Street, New Lodge Youth Centre has excelled in youth provision since the mid-1980s and is as popular as ever with the young people of the area.
The youth centre moved from BELB management to Ashton Community Trust community management in April 2012. Since then, it has worked hard to increase programme delivery and maximise the overall potential of the centre by ensuring greater accessibility and usage by local young people.
The centre provides a range of programmes, including history and culture, community relations and cross-community initiatives, local and national residential, active citizenship community initiatives, health and wellbeing as well as generic drop-in sessions.
Sean McMullan, leading youth worker at New Lodge Youth Centre, explained more about their work.
"We are open six nights a week for young people, aged five-to 25-years-old," he said.
"We offer a range of programmes from environmental, leadership qualifications, one-to-one mentoring, mental health support as well as generic drop-in with around 80-100 people coming in every night.
"Our street work is also key whereby engaging with local young people around interface areas on North Queen Street.
"It is important that we maintain a presence not only in the centre itself but in the New Lodge area. We want to engage with young people and maintain our positive relationship with them."
Like so many, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was huge on New Lodge Youth Centre, changing the way youth provision could happen overnight.
"It was massive. It went from providing youth work six nights a week face-to-face to moving everything online," continued Sean. "We were still able to maintain some form of engagement through Zoom and phone calls but it wasn’t as beneficial to young people.
"It was a difficult time for young people. They were disengaged from everything, including their friends and school.
"I am glad we are coming out the other end of Covid now. Some people were buzzing to be back in the centre but for others, it is a big step in leaving their comfort zone at home and engaging face-to-face once again.
"It is great to welcome young people back to the centre, to a safe environment, be around their peers and have that support from youth workers.
"The last thing young people want is another major outbreak and more lockdowns, so fingers crossed we are over it now.
"We are looking forward to our summer programme, which will involve residential trips and getting people away. It is very popular amongst our young people."
Sean is also aware of the challenges he and his team face in providing quality youth provision to the area.
"We know that there is not a bottomless pot of funding for youth work. As a youth worker, it is my job to try and maximize the funding that we do get.
"We have a number of funded programmes run by the centre and we know the massive positive impact that they have on the young people. We have to manage our workload when it comes to staff as well.
"It would be great to have a bit of longevity when it comes to funding but we are realistic and it is what it is."
As for the future of youth provision, Sean is hopeful that the centre can continue to have a positive impact on the local New Lodge community and beyond.
"There are many positives about youth provision in North Belfast," he added. "I think there are some absolutely outstanding youth work that is being done and it is a credit to the youth workers and the young people.
"Sometimes we see a lot of negative stuff around young people in North Belfast but there are far more positive stories than negative.
"Many of our youth workers have started off as kids coming to the centre, going on to get a degree and being employed back in the centre which is great to see.
"Youth provision is more accessible and inclusive than ever before for young people right across North Belfast.
"If we can’t offer an opportunity for a young person, we are more than happy to signpost them to other organisations in the local area.
"As for ourselves, I would love to see the New Lodge get a purpose-built youth centre, whether it is a refurb of the current centre or a new building.
"I think the young people deserve it. It can be quite challenging now due to the sheer amount of young people that come through the centre each week in terms of space and managing rooms.
"I want the centre to continue to be at the heart of the New Lodge community for many years to come. Young people are our future and we want to continue to create positive leaders for the local community."
New Lodge Youth Centre
117 Upper Meadow Street
Belfast
BT15 2FQ.
Tel: 028 9075 1358
