Making Space For The Young
Hastings Commons, teaming up with Xtrax Hastings, has obtained another large tranche of government money to develop public spaces in Cambridge Road – this time focussing on the 11-18 age group.
As part of the government’s overall levelling up agenda, a national Youth Investment Fund (YIF) of over £300 million was launched last August with the aim of targeting areas where youth need is high and provision low, so as to give young people more equal access to local youth services. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced last week that Hastings Commons is to receive £8.6 million from this fund to support a capital programme that includes full renovation of Eagle House (opposite ESK) and further development of space a few yards up the road at the Observer Building (OB).
Eagle House, spread over five storeys, is already part developed, with the Common Room on the ground floor in regular community use. Xtrax Hastings will be moving to the first floor next week to begin development of a youth work hub there. They have currently only one permanent member of staff, service manager Rachel Hesterbanks, but six part-time, and now the capacity to branch out. Rachel believes that young people are keen to feel that they have a place in the centre of town, and that the new financial investment in youth provision is just what’s wanted – “it’s exciting for the town as a whole”.
At the OB, parts of the roof will be extended, toilets installed, and the main roof developed for general use. Hastings Commons have just recruited a Youth Programme Manager who will start work later this month with a remit to include teenage children in further development consultations.
Both at Eagle House and the OB, spaces will be developed with the aim of making them attractive and interesting to older children – both as informal places to meet and hang out with those of their own age, as in a traditional youth club, but also in making connections with other community happenings around them.
“Our social mission has always sought to benefit everyone, but especially those who usually miss out”, says Hastings Commons CEO, Dr Jess Steele. “Teenagers fit into this category because they have no money, no political power, and often nowhere to go. But they are the future, and their involvement will help make sure the Commons lasts, while providing opportunities for them to thrive in Hastings.
“It’s in the nature of our holistic approach that there will be ‘intergenerational mingling’ – it won’t be easy, but the Commons is a way to find new and better ways to include everyone.”
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