A brief history of Pelton Youth Project
Pelton Youth Project is the youth work section of Pelton Community Association, a charitable incorporated organisation that exists to support Pelton and the surrounding areas. The youth project was established in 2008 to combat the considerable problems with youth crime and anti-social behaviour in the local community. Back then, Pelton had the highest reported incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour in County Durham. The constant cycle of youth nuisance and anti-social behaviour led to young people becoming marginalised within the community, some might even say that young people were intimidating. It was this culture that youth workers set out to change. Young people needed to become valued as members of their own community again.
In 2024 we are proud to be working in partnership with core funders including Pelton Parish Council, BBC Children In Need, The National Lottery, Chester le Street and District Area Action Partnership and County Durham Community Foundation. This is in addition to over twenty smaller charitable trusts and foundations that provide our youth project with financial support. It is these donations that allow the youth work team to provide high-quality youth work activities to young people across Chester le Street.
Fifteen years on and the young people in Pelton are viewed very differently compared to back in 2008. Pelton Youth Project provides seventeen youth sessions each week in term time and offsite activity programmes in the school holidays. Youth workers implement a youth curriculum that is designed to develop young people's social and emotional capabilities. Our young people engage in a broad range of activities from the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, open access youth clubs, and offsite activity sessions. The young people who access Pelton Youth Project are also at the helm when it comes to decision-making in their youth centre, youth workers value young people's opinions; understanding the positive impact this has on the project.
