Sheffield mobile youth club with "Avenger" style team of experts could help keep young people off the streets

A Sheffield youth worker is fundraising to buy a van and convert it into a mobile youth club so that he can engage with young people in Sheffield.
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Anthony Olaseinde aims to raise £20,000 for the vehicle and hopes that he will be able to use it to reach in-need communities across Sheffield and South Yorkshire.Anthony, who is Director of Always an Alternative, a non-profit aiming to reduce youth violence, wants to ensure that young people in the region are given an alternative to gang culture and knife crime.

He said: “The blueprint is that we would go to an area and engage with young people there for six months or so. If there is a need, we will upskill people in the area and get them to a position where they can run their own youth club. Then we go to another location and repeat the process.

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"I have specialised knowledge in knife crime and gang culture, another member knows a lot about domestic abuse, safe sex and healthy relationships. Another knows about substance misuse and mental health.

The mobile youth club will be used to engage with young people across Sheffield and South YorkshireThe mobile youth club will be used to engage with young people across Sheffield and South Yorkshire
The mobile youth club will be used to engage with young people across Sheffield and South Yorkshire

"We are a going to be a team, like the Avengers, going to local areas and directing people who need help.

"More than anything it gives people a safe space - to keep them off the streets, doing mischievous things.

"When I was growing up I went down a wrong path I did things that I’m not proud of.

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“I didn’t like being a stereotype. I decided I was going to be the person that I needed when I was growing up.”

A mock-up of what the mobile youth club will look likeA mock-up of what the mobile youth club will look like
A mock-up of what the mobile youth club will look like

Anthony has so far raised around £500 for the mobile youth club, and plans to kit it out with, a games console, laptops, DJ equipment, and lots of sports equipment.

He added: “I know £20,000 is a hell of a lot of money, but even if I only reach one child they will be earning more than that a year when they are older.

“I’ve written a book on knife crime – One Knife Many Lives – and the profit is going back into the youth club.

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“The mobile youth club is inclusive of every young person. It is for all young people. They will be given mentoring, and help to become the best version of themselves they can be.”

To purchase a copy of One Knife Many Lives, click here.

To give a donation for the Mobile Youth Club, visit here.

Alternatively, you can create you own fundraiser, doing events such as a sponsored run or a raffle, and donate the proceeds.

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