Northwards Wardens

Operation Care

Children participating in Operation care
Success story: Operation Care has encouraged respect for others.

Groups of young people in Newton Heath have been learning the hard-hitting facts of life with our wardens - and having fun with it too.

Operation Care is a ten-week course to get young people to learn the real effects of antisocial behaviour. During the course, they're visited by people from drugs agencies, youth schemes, the police and the fire service to hear the tough realities of life.

Chris, one of the lads taking part said, "Watching the video about calling the fire station out for no reason shocked me. I won't do it again."

Go-karting

But with all this tough talk, how do we get them to come back every week? Warden Lee Roberts explains: "We make and race remote control cars at the end of each session. If they get through the whole programme with full attendance and clean records, we take them go-karting at a professional track."

If the lads act anti-socially during the programme, they lose 'points', but can earn them back by taking part in street-cleaning days. To qualify for the day out they need to spend at least two hours cleaning up the area where they hang out. Lee says, "On one session, they filled 22 bags of litter! And still came back the week after."

Commander Jon Crawley from Thompson Street fire station was happy to host Operation Care in their community room - on the condition he could talk to the youngsters too. "It's been marvellous to be involved in this programme" he says. "We've never seen anything like it before and we're thrilled to be part of it."

Positive impact

Operation Care is really bringing results. Carmine Grimshaw, a shop owner in Newton Heath said, "Operation Care has had a very, very positive impact on the community." The places where youngsters used to hang out have changed. The overgrown land has been chopped down, the hide-out garages have been pulled down and there are few traces of vandalism left. Antisocial behaviour is down and respect for others is up.

 

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