The Eastern living rooms for all young people – spaces for lounging, activities and crafts – proposal collected in the OmaStadi voting the sixth largest number of votes in the eastern major district. The youth spaces will be opened in the premises of Puotila’s new primary school, Puistopolku comprehensive school and Vartiokylä primary school during this year or next.
A proposal entitled ‘Eastern living rooms for all young people(Link leads to external service)’ that focused on adding recreational facilities to the eastern parts of Helsinki was successful in the OmaStadi voting held last October. The proposal was promoted by an extensive network of volunteers from the Puotila and Vuosaari associations and the multicultural Neighbourhood Mothers project. Both local associations had already gained experience from the first OmaStadi round, so they were already familiar with the participatory budgeting process. This made it easier for them to promote the proposal.
In the future, Eastern living room activities will give local young people the opportunity to participate in recreational activities that support them in taking up interests. Later, the living rooms will also be used to host recreational activities for local adults on few nights a week.
Good progress through cooperation
In the previous OmaStadi round in 2019–2020, a proposal on outdoor sports equipment won more support in Puotila than the proposal of creating a common living room. Local resident associations continued their search for a solution to make more resident facilities available to the local community.
City experts communicated to the resident associations that OmaStadi could perhaps be used to rent school premises. The Puotila association then surveyed the local schools’ need for a separate youth space. At the same time, they also looked into the possibility of renting school premises for external use. Puotila primary school, Vartiokylä primary school and Puistopolku comprehensive school all stated their interest.
At the same time, in a local OmaStadi workshop, four complementary proposals were merged into one: Eastern living rooms.
“That’s when the big wheels started turning,” says Mikko Sorsa, vice chair of the Puotila association.
Making a difference is an empowering experience
Partnerships with associations are important in OmaStadi to ensure equality and that all voices of participants are heard. One of OmaStadi’s partners is the Neighbourhood Mothers project. The project aims to prevent the social exclusion of women with immigrant backgrounds and to encourage them to become active operators in society.
During the OmaStadi brainstorming phase, the Neighbourhood Mothers organised in total 23 workshops aimed at foreign-language speakers in twelve different languages. In addition to these workshops and their participation support, the Neighbourhood Mothers also produced multilingual communication material to reach all Helsinki residents.
One of the Neighbourhood Mothers’ workshops was held at a Finnish language course for immigrants organised by the Finnish Adult Education Centre in Helsinki, and the challenges that illiterate immigrants face were brought up in the workshop. The workshop participants said they were in need of peer support and the opportunity to engage in recreational activities and work together. Thus, a proposal for providing recreational activities and peer support for older, illiterate immigrants emerged. This proposal was later merged into the ‘Eastern living rooms’ proposal, as was another proposal that also originated from the ranks of mothers regarding meeting places and affordable recreational activities for young people. During the voting phase, the Neighbourhood Mothers set up pop-up OmaStadi voting stations in shopping centres and cultural centres, encouraging Helsinki residents to participate in the development of their city.
According to one Neighbourhood Mothers volunteer, Mounia Noski, it was important to start by defining what exactly was needed. After that, an implementation plan was drawn up. Another volunteer for the association, Hope Nwosu, recalls the importance of engagement in general.
“Having the experience that your opinion matters is empowering and adds to active participation in society,” says Nwosu.
OmaStadi is Helsinki’s way of implementing participatory budgeting. Helsinki will spend EUR 8.8 million implementing ideas proposed by city residents. The ideas will be developed together into proposals on which the residents will vote. The city will implement the proposals that get the most votes.
Read more:
‘Eastern living rooms for all young people(Link leads to external service)’ proposal
OmaStadi’s follow-up site for the proposals to be implemented(Link leads to external service)
Neighbourhood Mothers(Link leads to external service) (Naapuriäidit, Facebook)
Puotila association(Link leads to external service)
Vuosaari association(Link leads to external service)
Drawing: Minna Alanko, City of Helsinki Media Bank.
Image: Kimmo Brandt, City of Helsinki Media Bank.
Image: Carolina Bonatto.