'High Five' last year helped 1,000 youth at risk

Last year, the public media charity drive "High Five!" collected more than € 451,000 to support young people at risk. Where has this money been spent and how have the lives of teenagers changed? Latvian Radio attempted to find out October 8.

Last year, High Five! was held for the 10th time. The theme was supporting young people who are one step away from being at risk, such as ending up on the streets or committing a crime, but have not received the support they need to get back on track.

As every year, last year High Five! took place in the Glass Studio in Doma Square. It was hosted by DJ Toms Grēviņš, who was joined by various guests, including Maija Āboliņa, a member of the Council of the State Audit Office, who described the essence of the charity campaign as follows:

"We don't really know how to bring up those children. Maybe we should look not so much at ourselves individually but at society as a whole. We punish children, we don't see why they act like that, where the problem comes from. We isolate them better when the problems are worse, and so the work that we all have to do is to create a new system where we help children as early as possible so that they can overcome those barriers and integrate into society."

State Audit had previously found out there are more than 10,000 children with behavioral problems in Latvia who are absent from education for long periods of time without any justifiable reason, use various intoxicating substances or have broken the law. And more than 36,000, or one in seven children in Latvia, are at risk of developing behavioral problems.

The campaign highlighted many painful stories, and well-known people shared their experiences of what or who has helped them to make positive changes in their lives. People donated €451,189 in exchange for their favorite songs. At the end of the charity marathon, the organizers also circulated an open letter calling for children's rights to be a national and local priority and for funding, system change, early help, mentoring, and support staff.

Rūta Dimanta, the head of the charity organization Ziedot.lv, told Latvian Radio:

"We have helped 1000 young people, which I think is a very good indicator. 16 associations and foundations provided [the help]. The things that have been implemented with donations are different therapies, art therapies, mentoring, one-to-one mentoring, long long-term mentoring, which shape a young person's outlook on life and help them to make a difference. Also support groups, where young people can solve their problems in a group, camps, and also social support in the here and now, whether it's food, medical expenses or shelter."

Asked whether there had been any noticeable changes in the "visibility" of these at-risk young people, Dimanta was not so optimistic. Thanks to the High Five! campaign, 10% of at-risk young people have been reached, but this is a very small percentage; overall, there has not been much change in the actions of the state and local authorities.

Jānis, whose name has been changed, is one of the 1,000 young people who were able to receive mentoring thanks to donations to last year's High Five! campaign. He comes from a well-off family with food on the table and a clean bed. However, he had no contact with his parents, and the stricter the rules, the more he wanted to spend more time on the streets. Wandering, sleeping in stairwells, or on the street. Family relations had become strained, and school had been put on the back burner. There came a time when he had to seek help because the offenses committed were serious and his studies were behind schedule. This is how Jānis ended up at the Resilience Center:

"Last year I was kind of slowly getting on the right track, but my biggest problem was still with my studies. I felt the help the most with studies, mentoring and things like that. High Five! helped me a lot to finish grade 9, which was very necessary. My personal mentor Dace Blaževiča was very important. Without her, I probably would not have gotten through anything. It was through this High Five! support program, these people are given the opportunity to help young people."

Now 18 years old, Jānis is in high school and thinking of studying law. His relationship with his parents has also improved and he continues to attend the Resilience Center.

The association Resilience Center is one of the organizations which received financial help through High Five! Kārlis Mednieks, a board member of the Resilience Center, said that the State Audit's figure is just the tip of the iceberg as not all young people are seen by social services or the police. 

"We have been able to help 60 young people who have received both mentoring and tutoring, 830 in total. There have been 44 group sessions, which are communication groups, and peer support groups to help young people. There have been 80 specialist counseling sessions, with different specialists brought in as needed by the young person. So I would say very, very successful."

Mednieks pointed out that thanks to the cooperation with the Department of Education, Culture and Sport, Riga has a Street Youth Work Programme, which effectively reaches out to young people who spend most of their day on the streets. Although a lot of work has been done, he pointed out that there are fears that could come true, as new problems arise in society from time to time and old ones are forgotten.

"I hope that this won't be a project-type event again. What we see now is that everything is happening. It will take two years and we will forget this issue. Let it not go that way. Quite a lot has come and gone for us in the past. When you start talking about it louder, everybody pays attention to it, until the next issue comes along."

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