‘Reclaiming the block’: Youth club launched to fight against failing youth services

A new community centre geared towards helping young people in South London has just opened on the Aylesbury Estate.

Mentivity House, a joint endeavour between Mentivity, Active Communities Network, Southwark Young advisors and Southwark council, will offer a weekly youth club, a community space with gaming facilities and table tennis and a bi-weekly food bank.

The youth club, at Mentivity House, in Westmoreland Road, will run every Monday between 4.30pm and 6.30pm for young people aged between 13 and 19.

Sayce Holmes-Lewis, who grew up on the Aylesbury Estate, founded the youth mentoring group Mentivity in 2016. Now, having found a home for his work, Mr Holmes-Lewis said: “It means everything to me. 

“This is something that I was able to access when I lived on the Aylesbury Estate. We had Inspire, Pembroke House, Burgess Park Adventure Playground, The Amersham Youth Centre.

“It allowed you to immerse yourself in different environments with different people. There was less animosity because you knew who these people were, because you used to play together.”

There are around 67, 200 under 18s living in Southwark, according to council data.

Between 2011 and 2017, Southwark council cut its youth service budgets by 21 per cent. This trend was seen across the capital, with more than 750 youth centres having closed down since 2010, according to the Local Government Association (LGA). 

Mr Holmes-Lewis said: “It’s vitally important that we have this youth club on the estate, especially with what’s happened there in terms of regeneration and gentrification, but also couple that with austerity. 

“There’s been no action from those that have the power to ensure that young people have new spaces that they can access.

“This is a massive opportunity for us to showcase the importance of youth work.”

Last month, headteachers from 16 of the 20 secondary state schools in Southwark, introduced a smart phone ban to tackle issues, including mental health concerns, related to social media.

Mr Holmes-Lewis said: “In the age of social media, unfortunately, adults and young people can’t articulate themselves in a way that we would in previous years because we’re not practising. 

“Youth clubs can help improve those interpersonal skills and give confidence to young people and the wider community.”

To coincide with the opening of Mentivity House, Spotify has partnered with Mentivity to shine a light on the impact of youth spaces on UK culture through a short documentary, The Centre. 

Filmed and directed by Adeyemi Michael, The Centre features artists including Femi Koleoso of the Ezra Collective and novelist Ms Banks, whose early youth club experiences were pivotal in shaping who they are today. 

Mr Holmes-Lewis said: “The artists featured as part of the Spotify x Mentivity short film all had similar narratives and joy when talking about their memories of youth spaces and what it did for them.

“Mentivity House will change many young people’s lives.

“Youth clubs keep us together and connected, it’s a culture.”

To watch The Centre, Click Here.

Pictured top: Still from The Centre showing young people at Mentality House in the Aylesbury Estate (Picture: @adeyemimichael @artisanfilmtv)