Strengthening youth future prospects through practice‑based collaboration in youth centres

Sundsvall Municipality has identified young people’s wellbeing and sense of hope for the future as a priority area within the municipality’s social and educational policy goals. The municipality has a long tradition of working with youth-related issues and has implemented several successful programmes and initiatives to support young people’s development. The project aims to deepen and scientifically strengthen the existing knowledge base, as well as to develop a coherent framework for how collaboration can be structured to promote young people’s sense of hope for the future.

The project thus aims to contribute to a more inclusive society by strengthening young people’s optimism about the future – a crucial psychosocial protective factor.

Against this background, the purpose of the pre-study is to:

• Reinforce already established forms of collaboration with relevant societal actors such as community police, social services, cultural and leisure departments, non-profit organisations and academia.
• Identify and analyse success factors and systemic challenges in current collaborative structures in order to create a sustainable collaboration model.

This model should clarify responsibilities, define non-person-dependent practical working methods, specify roles, and include clear mechanisms for continuous feedback to support collective learning. The model can be adapted and implemented within the municipality to meet its sociopolitical goals.

Based on the project’s aims, the following research questions have been formulated:

• What obstacles and success factors exist in the current collaboration between youth services, schools, social services, the police and other actors in efforts to strengthen young people’s sense of hope for the future?
• How do young people themselves describe their understanding of future hope?
• How can young people’s own experiences and perspectives be integrated into the development of a sustainable collaboration model?
• How can a research-based collaboration model be designed to clarify responsibilities, roles and practical working methods, and ensure long-term benefits within municipal operations?

The project team includes researchers from Mid Sweden University, representing the fields of nursing and education, as well as representatives from the Department of Culture and Leisure in Sundsvall Municipality.