Don’t you, forget about me is the title of a well-known Simple Mind’s song. These words also popped up strongly in the Storytelling workshops in Barakaldo, when both youngsters and policymakers recognised that their worlds are increasingly distant.
Orkestra researchers facilitated workshops for young people and policymakers to share key preliminary findings from interviews in Barakaldo.
The first main finding shared was that the young people interviewed did not see institutional support as accessible or relevant. However, with policy initiatives existing, why are they not accessing them? How do young people and policy makers experience what is currently in place?
‘If I’d known about the financial support for emancipation provided by the city council and other institutions, I’d done it before”, said a young person at the workshop. Other young people agreed that it isn’t always clear what support is available to them and how they can go about accessing initiatives.
But whose responsibility is to publicise initiatives? Young people present recognised that they should take a more active approach to reach out to institutions.
Policymakers expressed that they do ‘what is in their hands to get in contact with the potential beneficiaries of their policies’. They mentioned that the use many channels and means to share initiatives, some more traditional and some more innovative, such as social media channels. But it seems like efforts from both sides are not enough, something is failing… What could be the reasons for this?
The storytelling workshops held in Barakaldo the 21st of July of 2022 showed, that both young people and policy makers do need each other, however, ways to connect need to be improved.
As the previously mentioned song goes…’
‘Won’t you come and see about me?’
’Tell me your troubles and doubts’
Young people called for the need to gain capabilities that can empower them to identify which institutions can support them. Policymakers suggested that young people should make more of an effort to try and understand what institutions offer.
One idea that emerged was the possibility of using educational institutions as a link between young people and the different programs offered by local public institutions. As well as this there could curriculum additions to develop individual capabilities in terms of life skills, such as learning how to pay taxes or how to read the electricity bill.
Maybe we can take further inspiration from the song chorus (Don’t you, forget about me) to bridge the gap between young people and policy makers. Thus, working together collaboratively to acknowledge and support each other. Connecting both realities; the formal world of policy with individual spaces, seems to be the future challenge for fighting youth inequalities in Barakaldo.
Remember!!
Don’t you, forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you, forget about me
For further musical inspiration =>
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh, woah
Won’t you come see about me?
I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving everything inside and out and
Love’s strange, so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on
Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby
Don’t you, forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you, forget about me
Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down
Will you recognize me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh, woah
Don’t you try and pretend
It’s my feeling we’ll win in the end
I won’t harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity and security, ah
Don’t you forget about me
I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Going to take you apart
I’ll put us back together at heart, baby
Don’t you, forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you, forget about me
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
When you walk away
Or will you walk away?
Will you walk on by?
Come on, call my name
Will you call my name?
I say
La, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
When you walk on by
And you call my name
When you walk on by