Agenda item
Jeph Osei-Bonsu (Kwakz)
Minutes:
Jeph (Kwakz) Osei-Bonsu presented on the project so far. The project has been running for about 9 months and functions to help develop young people emotionally, encourage them to make better choices and offers helpful role models, using predominantly music as a tool to achieve this. The Community Church in Wooburn Green has been providing church space twice a week to help with this. Alongside the music, there is safe space to discuss relevant topics, things on the news, etc. Discussion topics have included negative vs positive lifestyles, emotional wellbeing, temptations of gang life, healthy relationships and mental health. Several guest speakers have provided input, including local musicians and entrepreneurs. The local element is key here.
Since 1st June 2023 over 300 attendances have been logged from a group of approximately 56 young people. To counter food poverty, there is provision of a meal for every young person who attends, as well as helping with food preparation and cooking where possible. Since the start of the project over 300 meals have been served, for some it has been their first meal of the day. As the project has grown, chefs have been brought in to help teach how to make healthy meals from basic ingredients. A link has been stablished with Christ Church Community Hub where food packages are collected and taken back to the youth space so that young people can choose, at their discretion, food that they feel their family could use and are able to take that home.
On the music side, over 100 song ideas have been created in the studio, written and performed by the young people, with more than 40 songs near completion; 12 have been mixed, mastered and are ready for release. The aim is to bring this out as an album, a soundtrack of the last 9 months. This will be released on Spotify and other platforms. Those who have attended youth projects, attended university and gone on to have their own careers, such as Ac Money have come to speak to the young people and offer a positive role model to them.
There has been successful partnerships developed with companies such as Focusrite, and Ableton to keep the quality of music to a high standard. 10 laptops have been donated through an American company, as well as a studio in Thame to treat and soundproof to provide the best recording experience. Also, they have partnered with Tesco to provide balanced meals at a discount.
In terms of successes, trust has been built with the young people and conflict reduced. Over 30 young people have engaged consistently in attendance. Young people have taken on volunteer roles to assist staff. Relationships with parents have been developed; some young people not in education, employment or training have returned to school full-time or entered employment full-time.
Challenges have included distance between Wooburn Green and Flackwell Heath; which has been mitigated by people providing lifts. If the project continues, they will look to invest in a Minibus. More food would like to be provided and activities broadened beyond music, recognising the variety of interests from the young people. There is a need to recruit more female staff recognising the increase in female attendees to the project and there are links being sought with local businesses to help young people work and earn money.
Going forward, further funding is being sought from the lottery and other bodies.
Cllr Wheelhouse thanked Kwakz for the work put into the project, and asked if a name of the album or the band were available yet. Kwakz responded that there was not a name yet, but they will be sitting down as a community to decide that and will let the Board know.