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The
Youth Cafe Project was conceived in 2001 by Adrian Sumption,
chair of Richmond Youth Partnership. The original idea
was to find suitable high street premises to operate a
cafe for young people where they could meet and socialise
as well as take part in organised activites. They would
also have access to information and guidance on such things
as careers & training, health, drugs & alcohol
as well as being able to discuss
issues with trained counsellors.
Due
to the high cost of premises it was the decided to instead
develop a mobile project and a second hand bus was purchased
and converted to act as a mobile youth centre. The
VCG was instrumental in the realisation of this important
project for the young people of the borough alongside
the Richmond
Youth Partnership who now manage the project.
Since
the original bus project was launched in 2004 the success
of the Bus has led to the opening of a further cafe at
the Kings Field skate park in Hampton Wick.
The
Youth Cafe Bus is a specially converted double decker
bus which visits a variety of locations around the borough
to offer young people a safe space to meet where they
can access a wide range of information, advice, leisure
activities and training opportunities.
The
Bus is equipped as a cafe and informal meeting area on
the lower deck, whilst the upper deck has been converted
to provide a small private space for counselling or small
group work as well as a large open workspace which can
be used for a wide variety of activities and which is
equipped with 6 laptop computers . The bus can operate
in any venue which it can access as it is equipped with
an on-board generator.
For
further information about the bus and to find out where
it currently operates please contact the project manager,
Richard Campbell, on 077 3068 3068 or send
an email to the project
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