In Jan 2017 Northwards Housing approached Louise Hodson and Colin Phillips for help.  They were trying to deal with some serious issues within the Harpurhey, Collyhurst and Monsall areas due to young people involved in anti-social behaviour.  Collyhurst Park had been consistently vandalised and the council were refusing to renew equipment.

 

A group of boys aged 12 to 16 were causing most of the problems.  To make matters worse, parents had been issued with one or more tenancy warnings and some were at risk of eviction.  Louise and Colin convened a meeting with parents at Manchester Communication Academy to agree a way forward.

 

In February 2017 ‘Teenage Kicks’ was launched, working with a group of sixteen young people offering boxing and football, twice a week, on a Monday and Thursday evenings.  

 

Owing to word of mouth in the community, this initial cohort steadily rose to forty-five regulars attending with the age group expanding to include children as young as eight years old.

 

It came to the attention of staff that some of the young people were not having anything to eat after school - arriving at “Teenage Kicks” in their school uniform without even having been home.  In response to this Teenage Kicks began to provide a meal in two sittings as part of the offer.  Good progress was celebrated by a visit to a local take-away with a 50% discount on food. This led to the young people no longer causing problems in and around the shop.

 

Teenage Kicks eventually went on to offer the following activities:

 

Boxing

Football

Indoor archery

Gym

Games consoles

Roller skating

Mountain biking

Taekwondo

Scooters

Multi sports eg. Dodgeball, Badminton etc.

Cooking sessions

Street dance

Make-up workshops

 

In October 2017 Teenage Kicks received the local crime impact report from Greater Manchester Police highlighting a phenomenal 46% reduction in anti-social behaviour.