Case studies: Youth community worker and training officer: Marc

Marc's role is challenging and varied and has changed over the years as it is dictated by funding.

Marc works for Stop Hate UK  (formerly Leeds Racial Harassment Project), a third sector organisation working to support individuals and communities to develop an understanding of hate crime and discrimination, and to promote community cohesion. Marc’s dual role as youth and community worker and training officer involves varied work supported by several funding streams.

I became interested in social issues in my late teens and after I completed a graphic design degree in the mid-1990s I found that I had a desire to become involved in supporting young people and communities. In 2000, I got a job as a voluntary sector youth officer, working with young people to address their barriers to employment and work placements. This gave me an awareness of the factors contributing to marginalisation and disempowerment and an understanding of the disparity between community need and social policy. This experience supported me to move into my role with Leeds Racial Harassment Project in 2001.

My role at Stop Hate UK is challenging and varied and has changed over the years as dictated by funding. I’m currently involved in supporting children, young people and families within an educational community setting and I carry out community cohesion work addressing gang culture, race and conflict. I support schools to address the requirements of the Stephen Lawrence Educational Standard through embedding race equality within the school’s culture and I deliver training to statutory agencies on race equality and hate crime.

Working in this area is very challenging, which is both a positive factor and at times difficult. I manage my own time and have considerable control over the direction and delivery of projects. My job is city-wide and I often travel to work in schools and other agencies and communities. The programme of events I coordinate challenges misconceptions, broadens thinking and encourages dialogue between different community groups. Over recent years, my role has developed to involve more strategic work, consultations and influencing senior management within educational establishments. I work to draw agencies together, encouraging the development of sustainable partnerships.

I believe that experience is more valuable than academic qualifications for roles in race relations and community cohesion. A key feature of the work involves capacity building and the development of partnerships, requiring skills that generally come through experience rather than through teaching in an educational setting.

Jobs in this area of work tend to be advertised in the local press and on local authority websites, and voluntary sector agencies distribute adverts and newsletters widely amongst partner organisations. I’ve also noticed that it’s becoming increasingly common for individuals who have an idea for an innovative community project to approach relevant bodies and agencies, asking if they could be taken on if they can get funding.

Ultimately I believe that race equality and community cohesion is not just the responsibility of professionals and agencies – in reality it requires members of all communities to pull together, build capacity and empower one another.

AGCAS

Sourced by Janet Latham, Leeds Trinity and All Saints

Date: 

May 2009

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