What makes youth work multicultural?

1. What makes youth work multicultural? 9.5.2008, Tallinn Leena Suurpää Finnish Youth Research Network Leena.suurpaa@youthresearch.fi

2. Finnish Youth Research Society • Finnish Youth Research Society: a scientific society founded in 1988 to promote multidisciplinary research in Finland • Finnish Youth Research Network: a national, flexible structure founded in 1999 to organise youth research activities at local, national and international levels -> Public administration channels its needs for sectoral research to be carried out by an independent scientific network -> Youth research has a steady and strong position in the Finnish decision making, media and social debates related to young people – BUT based on a flexible organisation • . Leena Suurpää

3. PREMISES OF MULTICULTURAL YOUTH WORK • Multicultural youth work is not a distinctive sector • Instead: how multiculturalism challenges prevailing youth work? - values and attitudes of workers & young people toward youth work and toward multiculturalism - sufficient know-how -> training needs and tools - meaning of ”openness” and ”education” in youth work - working methods - evaluation methods: reassessment of the quality of youth work - activities provided for young people - cross-sectoral collaboration, new partners

4. Data • Multicultural youth (13-25 years old): national survey, n=1380, interviews, n= 39 • Youth organisations: national (n=57), local organisations (n=89) • Civil servants being in charge of administration of youth work in Finnish municipalities (n = 228) • Youth workers responsible for multicultural affairs in 10 biggest Finnish municipalities (n=83) Leena Suurpää

5. FROM “PAPER TOLERANCE” TOWARD EVERYDAY COLLECTIVE ACTION - WITH AN ANTI-RACIST ETHOS • Less than fifth of youth organisations provide special information for multicultural youth about their activities (language, methods of delivery, etc.) • One tenth have strategy for multicultural issues • Fifth have personnel responsible for multicultural activities • One third organise multicultural training for their personnel • ”Those who make effort gain results”: those organisations which have most above mentioned features have also most multicultural youth involved in their activities Leena Suurpää

6. MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES: YOUTH WORK PRACTICES • MULTIPLE YOUTH INFORMATION WITH MULTIPLE LANGUAGES AND METHODS • Information (internet, paper) with many languages • Better use of cultural minorities’ own media channels • Information via school (parents’ meetings, etc.) • Dialogue with families, also face-to-face visits • Partnerships with local libraries, schools, social work, civil society... • A morevisibleprofile among local people on what youth work is about and how it can be considered multicultural (use of imagination on what kinds of happenings can be arranged in the local youth clubs) • Expanding working spheres of youth work: providing services for young people in their own environments (i.e. virtual youth club) Leena Suurpää

7. MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES: YOUTH WORK PRACTICES 2) MULTICULTURAL WORKING PLACE: TRAINING, ATTITUDE, PERSONNEL • workers from diverse ethnic backgrounds • multicultural coordinator(s) • a multicultural strategy • a system of cultural interpretators and/or multicultural teams • educating personnel concerning everyday challenges of multiculturalism and racism • better collaboration between municipal and civil society youth work • better collaboration between municipalities • recruiting foreign trainees • recruiting voluntary workers from different ethnic backgrounds

8. MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES: YOUTH WORK PRACTICES 3) COLLABORATION WITH FAMILIES • Different methods to enhance dialogue with parents: - diverse meetings (communality, not control) - parents involved in voluntary activities - cross-generational use of youth clubs - information in different languages and by different channels • Collaboration via schools • Collaboration via immigrant and multicultural (local) organisations

9. MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES: YOUTH WORK PRACTICES 4) OPEN APPROACH TO PROMOTE MULTICULTURAL ACTION • The most common partners for youth organisations are schools, other youth organisations, municipal youth services and associations of immigrants (national organisations) • Less cooperation is made with sports clubs, refugee centers, parents, parishes, religious communities and associations of immigrants (local associations) • Other studies, however, show that sports clubs, parishes, religious communities and immigrant associations are significant actors in multicultural youth work TO PROMOTE MULTICULTURAL Leena Suurpää

10. MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES: YOUTH WORK PRACTICES 5) RETHINKING AGE LIMITS • Traditional core target group for the municipal youth work is young people at the age of 13-18 • Reflexive dialogue between social and biological age • Evaluation of the meaning of age in youth activities -> where and when age limits are motivated, i.e. different working hours in the youth clubs for younger and older actors? • Own meeting hours for ”too old” young adults, or their recruitment for voluntary work