Stephen Griffith, who has now run the Copenhagen Youth Project, based in King’s Cross, for 20 years
A YOUTH worker who was once chased by a gang with machetes has appealed to society to reassess its attitudes to teenagers – or continue to see more bloody wounds and deaths on the streets.
In the 20 years that Stephen Griffith has run the Copenhagen Youth Project (CYP), he has known 11 young people who have been killed. As he launched a fundraising drive this week to rebuild a music studio at the King’s Cross club, the chief executive appealed to the public to think about what they could offer a young person in need.
He said: “I think there are people in the community that can support projects that are trying to nurture that. Community is really about everyone playing their part.
“This has got to be people outside this community who want to redress the balance, that want to provide for the people that haven’t got so much. There are those people out there who actually do want to see more equality, they do want to see people get opportunities.”
Mr Griffith described a harrowing ordeal when, two years ago, he ended up running from boys on bicycles wielding machetes as they chased members of his youth club. While he did not want to dwell on what happened that day, Mr Griffith said he was shocked by the ambush and the chaos that ensued.
“That moment was a real moment of me experiencing what they experience – and as a full-grown man, I didn’t know which way to run or which way to turn,” he said. “And they have this every day of their life, some of these boys. Every day.”
He described how for many youngsters, their postcodes become prisons as they cannot leave without legitimate fear of attack unless they go in a large group for safety or meticulously plan their route.
He said: “This lifestyle is a vacuum that never turns off and young people who are sucked into it accept it as the norm. There are some young people who have an extraordinary talent that could offer a way out, but more often than not the force of the vacuum puts an end to any dreams.”
Last year there were just over 12,000 knife crime offences recorded in London, but Mr Griffith thinks the true number is higher, as many stab victims choose to patch themselves up at home.
His ideas for change include asking schools to look again at how they keep struggling students, better attempts at rehabilitation for ex-offenders and businesses working with youth clubs to provide training opportunities.
Bid to rebuild music studio
THE Copenhagen Youth Club has launched a fundraising drive to rebuild its music studio rendered almost unusable due to noise complaints and ageing machinery.
Staff are appealing for public donations to support them with their youth work which sees more than 100 youngsters attending the club in King’s Cross each week.
It plans to hold a “No More Red – More Music!” auction in July to help with fundraising and hopes to raise more than £30,000 to help with soundproofing the room and improving the equipment.
Plans to refurbish the room three years ago fell through when a builder who had pledged to work for free pulled out during Covid.
Partners Adidas and Arsenal are among businesses to offer up items for the auction – including an Ian Wright-signed one-off Arsenal shirt. Three “money can’t buy” limited edition “No More Red” strips have also been released by the club for volunteers who raise £5,000 or more.
Ben Wilson, a charity director volunteering for CYP, said he wanted to see people and businesses from across Islington (and beyond) come forward with either financial donations or offers of service to help build the studio. He also called on those who have something worth auctioning off to contact CYP.
“Cash would be great, but we understand that the economic climate might not facilitate people or businesses to be able to do so,” said Mr Wilson.
“There’ll be local businesses that say, ‘Look, we can donate this as an auction prize that you can then use to raise money.’ If there are relevant local organisations in the vicinity who can help offset the cost of this by donating perhaps their services in kind, or if there is new music equipment, those kinds of things, then of course, that would be very, very welcome as well.”
• To donate, go to localgiving.org/appeal/NoMoreRed-MoreMusic or email CYP on [email protected]