Popular youth service Streetvibe has been a hit with youngsters in Beaumanor Estate, helping to reduce anti-social behaviour in the community. 

Youth service Streetvibe has been working with Riverside’s local community engagement team to engage young people in Beaumanor Estate in Leicester since July. The project, for 13-19yr olds, currently offers free services every Friday 7-9pm and has proven so popular it has helped to reduce anti-social behaviour in the local community.

Riverside community engagement manager Rupa Chandarana says: “It’s great to see a community project for our residents having such a positive effect so soon after it’s started. Streetvibe offer free youth sessions every Friday evening in Beaumanor Estate using their bus equipped for youth activities and games.

“One tenant says her son really enjoyed the sessions, that he had been having trouble making friends on the estate and Streetvibe gave him an opportunity to meet people.”

“Streetvibe’s presence during the summer has made a positive impact in the neighbourhood and is a likely contributing factor towards the reduction of anti-social behaviour.”

The project aims to engage young people in the area and reduce the number of anti-social behaviour reports, by bridging a gap of youth service provision currently lacking in the area. Over the summer, combined efforts by Riverside and other local agencies including the local Police, resulted in less complaints than usual about anti-social behaviour in the area.

Streetvibe manager Brian Quinn explains: “We use informal educational methods to engage with young people, offering them someone to talk too, somewhere to go and something to get involved with. All of Streetvibe’s services are aimed at voluntary engagement, and open to all. At Beaumanor the young people have been involved in activities such as DJ-ing, dance, playing Monopoly, and playing games on Ipad, X Box and PS4.”

The Streetvibe bus has three areas: The group work/chill out area; the IT suite/studio; the consultation area and driving cab all used to deliver and facilitate different types of activities. The bus has provision to deliver sound engineering and DJ-ing workshops using industry standard equipment. The bus also has the latest games consoles, board and card games, computers, laptops, printers, projectors and an extensive range of sports equipment.

The youth bus is what makes Streetvibe a unique service as it goes to the areas young people are, and when they move on, so does the bus.

This project is funded by the Riverside Foundation, an independent charity that exists to support charitable activity in the communities where Riverside operates.  Fundraising manager Lisa Connor said: “We are delighted to hear these early positive results from the Streetvibe project in Beaumanor Estate. Our charity exists to support valuable community based initiatives like this and we’re looking forward to hearing more about the great youth engagement work being delivered through this project.”

If you would like to take part in the Streetvibe project or simply want more information please contact Riverside housing officer Megan Duggan on 0345 111 0000.