The Netherlands Red Cross wishes to strengthen its relations with migrant communities on different levels. On this page you can read a description on a series of activities for youngsters.
Why
The Netherlands Red Cross wishes to strengthen its relations with the Asian, African and South American Dutch on different levels:
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Encourage the needed from migrant communities to call upon the social care programs of the Red Cross.
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Encourage people from different communities to do voluntary work for the Red Cross.
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Increase the number of donors from the various ethnic cultural communities.
Other important objectives of the Red Cross are:
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Creating more awareness on the local social care programs of the Netherlands Red Cross. The Red Cross is widely known for its international disaster relief programs, but awarenes is low on the domestic work for those who are seriously ill, disabled or lonely.
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Getting more youngsters involved in the social care programs of the Netherlands Red Cross.
Dilemma
The Netherlands Red Cross decided to start a pilot project to link the objectives on youngsters from different ethnic cultural backgrounds with creating more awareness on the social care programs. But how can you ‘bring alive’ the low interest message of loneliness and social isolation? And can we match the different objectives within one campaign? Encouraging the needed to appeal to the Red Cross; getting volunteers to work for the Red Cross; and creating the groundwork amongst youngsters to become a future Red Cross donor?
What
TransCity, together with Jongerenlab, has proposed to work on the theme of disabled youngsters and partying. In the Netherlands it is not easy for disabled youngsters in wheelchairs to go to nightclubs. The far majority of nightclubs is not easily accessible for disabled youngsters: too many stairs; the bar counters are too high; the disabled are even hesitant to order drinks because the toilets are not easily accessible for wheelers; last but not least, many youngsters in a wheelchair don’t want to go to a nightclub because they feel looked at, so they are not at ease.
It is important to cover the issue of disabled youngsters and partying without suggesting these people are pitiful. Emphasis had to be put on the fact that disabled youngsters are youngsters like all youngsters. Although the disadvantage of having a handicap cannot be denied, it does not make disabled youngsters different from other youngsters.
How
TransCity has developed two events for disabled youngsters with Surinam, Turkish, Moroccan and Dutch ethnical backgrounds. The media partner became the popular urban FunX Radio. The first event was the Street Experience. At the Street Experience, workshops were given on rap, scratch and human beatbox. Both disabled youngsters and volunteers were attracted through commercials and infomercials on FunX Radio, as well as bannering and editorials on cross cultural and ethnic websites such as lokum.nl, waterkant.net, maghreb.nl, funx.fm and partypeeps2000.com as well as by the Red Cross itself.
The second event was the 80% party in the Powerzone in Amsterdam. An urban dance party for all youngsters, including the disabled in a wheelchair. The 80% Party was announced through party flyers, online party info, word of mouth promotion and of course party info on FunX Radio. Free publicity was obtained in a number of ethnic, cross cultural and mainstream media, including television.
Results
Strong media exposure on both the workshop, party and the related issues. Great enthousiasm at the Street Experience workshops. Excitement amongst the disabled youngsters at the 80% Party, which attracted some 2,000 visitors.
Next
Street Experience and 80% were the starting points of a series of programs by the Netherlands Red Cross to appeal to both migrant communities and youngsters and related to the local social care programs.
