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Listen to thisCuts to council youth budgets are putting vital specialist provision for vulnerable youngsters in jeopardy
Every Wednesday evening, Lukasz Konieczka and his team at the Mosaic youth centre in north London welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people from across the capital. Here they can socialise in a safe place, receive support and mentoring from LGBT adults and get answers to questions never addressed at school.
But, come April, Mosaic will have its funding pulled by Brent council, forcing it to shut its doors after 15 years. The council needs to make £54m worth of savings. It has slashed its annual youth service budget of £1.3m by two-thirds and is tendering out the remainder to one provider, which will need to cater for all the borough’s young people. Specialist services are therefore expected to disappear.
LGBT young people often travel away from where they live so that they aren’t outed by a passerby who knows them
Yet, according to Konieczka, LGBT young people don’t access public services in the same way as heterosexual youngsters, which is why specialised services often far from home are needed.
“They will often travel away from where they live so that they aren’t outed by a passerby who knows them,” Konieczka explains. Rafael, 17, has been visiting Mosaic since he was 14, when he travelled for an hour and a half after school. He says the teachers at his Catholic school didn’t take his complaints of homophobic bullying seriously. “Kids can be really mean,” he says.
For Roberto, 18, whose relationship with his mother broke down after he came out as transgender, Mosaic was a lifeline. “Hiding who you are takes its toll on your mental health, and before I came to Mosaic, I didn’t know anyone like me even existed,” he explains. “I became much happier once I realised it doesn’t have to be bad all the time.”
About 80% of Mosaic’s members have not yet come out, with three out of four travelling from outside the borough. “That’s why localised funding doesn’t work,” says Konieczka.
When cuts are being made by individual councils, specialist youth provision is often the first in line, according to the LGBT Consortium, an umbrella group of 300 projects and organisations. “There can be an expectation [from councils] that generic youth services are safe and accessible for young LGBT people, but evidence from our members shows that this is just not the case,” says Vicky Worthington, the consortium’s membership and engagement manager.
2 February
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/02/services-for-lgbt-young-people-will-just-disappear
