A French Connection: Sharing Best Practice Across the Channel
Streets of Growth hosted a unique workshop presentation for a research field trip of 46 practitioners visiting from the Salvation Army in France (l’armee du salut – France). Practitioners from our Centre for Applied Research and Evaluation – an attached arm to our frontline work, we gave insights into Streets of Growth’s Appropriate Intervention Plus Model and how we are work with underserved young people aged 15-21 who are experiencing and engaged in harm and exploitation, and who are educationally and economically stuck. Key topics explored:
how we design, train, deliver and measure our targeted intervention work
our framework for utilising ‘lived experience’ practitioners in its widest sense (beyond ex-offender or only employing local people who come from the local areas we work in)
and child protection frameworks to see the commonalities and differences between the UK and France.
The research visit was led by Farid BOUAITA – Director of Operations (Complexe social de Lyon Cité) and coordinated through Matt Dufour, an international street artist and Artistic Director at Paint the Change who have partnered Streets of Growth on many street mural projects across east London. Matt played a key role in translation throughout the workshop presentation to ensure clarity and no misunderstandings. The learning both sides was immense and Streets of Growth are already in discussions about a reciprocal visit to practitioners back in France.
