Drug use among youth in the hospitality industry and in student housing, in relation to undermining

Drug use and undermining

Do you (later) want to work in government? Does the theme of security, organized crime and undermining concern you? Do you want to contribute to a 'safer' Groningen? Are you interested in research, policy and advice for concrete social problems? Then this assignment at the municipality of Groningen for the Public Order and Safety team (OOV) might be interesting for you.

Context

Safety in Groningen

'From advising the mayor to enforcement on the streets: we are working towards a safe municipality that is attractive to our residents and visitors. Our ambition is clear: Groningen is and will remain a pleasant, lively and, above all, safe municipality. We tackle crime, track down illegal activities and keep the city livable for everyone. We do this from behind our desks as well as on the streets’. (municipality web).

However, practice proves complicated. Recent research shows that Groningen, as the focal point of a regional infrastructure, with a sizeable outlying area, several seaports and good road, water and rail access, provides an attractive infrastructure for organized crime, all the more so because there has long been underestimation of the problem and a lack of enforcement capacity. The relatively high rates of poverty in the region and the high socioeconomic inequality in the city itself also create “criminal opportunities”. The problems of vulnerable youth in problem neighborhoods (gun possession, problematic drug use, recruitment as a money mule) and that of the normalization of drug use among students has also not been recognized for a long time, as well as the opportunities that an extensive hospitality industry and a shortage of housing provide for illegal practices.

Public Order and Safety (OOV) Team

Meanwhile, safety issues are high on the municipality's agenda. The safety policy framework (2021-2024) of the Municipality of Groningen recognizes the metropolitan safety issue: 'as one of the largest municipalities in the Netherlands, Groningen has robust safety and livebility issues.' ^[1]

The OOV team has recently grown very significantly. OOV works extensively with security partners such as the police, fire department and the public prosecutor's office, but also with various healthcare organizations. The team supports the mayor in carrying out his public order and security duties. OOV also advises the city council on a variety of public order and safety issues. Since three years, area managers for security have also been appointed, who work towards a safer Groningen on the basis of an area-specific integral vision and in collaboration with other municipal departments. This function differs from the other functions within the OOV department because it is not thematic. It is based on an area rather than a theme.

Undermining                                                                                                                                                                      
The Policy Framework for Safety Municipality of Groningen (2021-2024) includes four firm ambitions: 1) Tackling Undermining More Robustly; 2) Increasing Digital Security; 3) Social Unrest and Polarization; and 4) Effectively Connecting Security and Care. Undermining crime is understood here as organized crime with harmful local effects (e.g., exploitation or recruitment of vulnerable groups, street degradation, reduced support for local government). The organized criminal world is characterized as a closed world that exploits legal structures. [2]                                                                                                                                             In the undermining approach, the municipality cooperates with numerous partners inside and outside the municipality. The monthly meeting of the “case table on undermining” chaired by the municipality involves officials from OOV, as well as the social investigation department, building and housing supervision, Supervision of Catering & Prostitution. Also present from outside the municipality are representatives and specialists from the Police, Tax Office, and the Social Affairs and Employment Inspectorate. The municipality of Groningen has set four priorities in terms of an “action-oriented” approach to undermining: drugs; criminogenic branches; human trafficking (exploitation) and real estate.

Assignment: Effects of drug use on safety and security

Drug use in Groningen

In 2022, the municipality of Groningen commissioned a sewage survey on drug use. [3] Sewage surveys provide an objective picture of the total amount of drugs consumed in a given period. The Groningen study showed that, compared to other municipalities, consumption of cocaine and 2-MMC/4-MMC, especially on weekends, was relatively high. The consumption of cannabis was remarkably high; in no other municipality where a sewage survey has taken place have such high values of cannabis ever been detected as in Groningen.

The Great Nightlife Survey (HGU) 2023 conducted by the Trimbos Institute, shows that the use of ecstasy, cocaine and 3-MMC among nightlife users has increased compared to 2020. [4] The use of 3-MMC has relatively increased the most: it is three times more common among outgoers than in 2020. More students in Groningen use drugs than students in other cities; cannabis 51% vs. 22%; ecstasy 25% vs. 13%; and cocaine 16% vs. 7%. Drug use seems normalized and accepted in Groningen especially among students in recent years. At several bar and restaurant inspections, there have been observations of overt hard drug use, mostly in groups.

The world behind the production and trafficking of hard drugs is often unknown to users. A huge amount of money is made in the drug trade, but especially in the less visible side. Producers and large dealers earn millions, the street dealer several tens to hundreds of euros per day.

Street dealers are usually vulnerable young people and often part of a youth group in which they slip further and further towards criminality. The 'unknown' big earners use illegal constructions for money laundering, with intimidation and threats occurring on a daily basis.

The excessive violence, (mistaken) murders and attacks on homes/ business premises or explosions of production sites in residential areas are also part of the production and trade of the pill or line used in Groningen.

Through an integrated approach to substance abuse for students, increased supervision and enforcement in the hospitality industry, and additional investment in tackling undermining, the municipality aims to reduce drug use.

Blind spots for talent development in Fryslân

A question commissioned by Keunstwurk

Do you have a heart for the arts and culture? Do you think it is important for children and youths people from Friesland to get the same opportunities to participate in art and culture? Then this assignment at Keunstwurk might be for you!

About the assignment

Imagine yourself young and from the Frisian town of Bakhuizen, where can you to engage with art and culture? And how does that differ from Dokkum or Harlingen? The cultural climate in Friesland differs per municipality; 'Where you were born', strongly determines which forms of art and culture you can participate in and thus which talents you can develop. How can we understand where young people can enjoy art and culture, and how can this lead to better cooperation between regions? That is what Keunstwurk would like to know in this project.

About Keunstwurk

Keunstwurk ( www.keunstwurk.nl ) is a support organization for cultural education and participation in the province, strengthening art and culture. We believe that art and culture play an important role in exploring people's imagination, emotions and personality. Whether it is visual arts, music, dance or theater; they connect us more with each other, enhance our skills and strengthen our sense of self-awareness. This contributes to a more powerful mienskip (Frisian for community).

Keunstwurk believes in a broad definition of talent. Talent is not only about excelling in something, but also about that which seems to come naturally, gives satisfaction and energy. Through art and culture, young people have the opportunity to develop their own identity, build self-confidence and work together in a creative environment. Keunstwurk offers various talent development programs, which inspire, challenge and empower young people, such as the Fulkaan program .

What are you going to do?

Keunstwurk is looking for students who can make a quantitative analysis of the extracurricular local cultural offerings for children and young people in the province of Friesland. In which municipalities do you find which art and culture offerings and at which stages of talent development do they fit?

Together with Keunstwurk you will develop an analysis model/framework for your research.Which parameters will you include and which not? Is there more information to be found in the literature about measuring arts and culture supply?

You conduct an analysis of the arts and cultural climate in each municipality in Friesland. The collected data will be entered into a database. This database is part of the final product that you deliver.

The collected data provides insight into where the opportunities lie for discussions with providers, associations and municipalities in the region. The offer, reflected against other regions in the province and the policies of various municipalities, maps out where the white spots are and where potential opportunities for development and cooperation lie.

Strengthening public support for development cooperation – what role for young people?

Assignment Cordaid & Oxfam Novib

Introduction

In recent decades, political and social support for investing tax money in development cooperation has steadily decreased. During the first Rutte cabinets, this already led to substantial cuts in the Dutch budget for development cooperation. As a result, the Netherlands abandoned the so-called 0.7% norm, the international agreement of rich countries to spend at least 0.7% of their Gross National Income on “Official Development Assistance” (ODA).

With the Schoof administration taking office and the publication of the outline agreement, it became clear that the current government will cut resources for the world's poorest even more sharply. From 2027, 2.4 billion euros per year will be cut, a cut of about 35%. This makes development cooperation the area hardest hit by the current government. And this cut is the biggest cut ever to the Dutch development budget.

One of the reasons why “politics” can make such a cut without social uproar is the eroded social support for development cooperation. On all lists made by pollsters, development cooperation (or sometimes the Royal Family!) tops the list when asked what can be cut. This is not surprising: a cutback here does not affect the Dutch people directly, whereas a cutback in health care or education, for example, does have consequences.

In the 1980s there was still broad social support, not least because of the active role of the churches. And major global actions such as Live Aid and Band Aid also played an important mobilizing role. Partly for this reason, the Netherlands was for a long time, together with countries such as Luxembourg, Sweden and Norway, the leading country in the field of development cooperation, with PvdA Minister Jan Pronk as the most outspoken representative.

That has changed completely anno 2024. The argument “we are rich, so we can spare a little to fight poverty elsewhere in the world” is only meaningful to the left of the political spectrum and Christian parties. Parties like the VVD are only willing to spend tax money on development cooperation if it can be shown that Dutch interests (trade, counter-terrorism, combating climate change, etc.) are served. On the right side of the political spectrum, moral arguments hardly work, if at all.

This assignment is about coming up with creative ideas to get young people moving for global solidarity. The assumption is that there is potentially a lot of interest among young people (the UN uses the age range 15-24 here) in global issues, from climate change to humanitarian aid to peace and security. But the development sector has not been sufficiently successful in engaging them appropriately. There is a lot of communication by development organizations, but not necessarily on the platforms where young people are and certainly not in the language and images that appeal to young people.

The assignment

The assignment consists of a few components, but is certainly not set in stone. Either way, it will make a big call on the creativity and inspiration of the group. The following could be considered:

- A mapping of existing initiatives of and by young people in the field of international cooperation, ranging from activities by political youth organizations, events by student associations or faculty associations, but also from initiatives already undertaken by development organizations, for example Oxfam Novib's political labs. It is especially interesting to chart what is happening outside the “Randstad bubble. One of the lessons learned from the development sector is that the focus of conferences, debates, etc. is very much in the big cities, and that in the rest of the country far too few activities take place to involve people (and thus also young people) in international cooperation

- Collect good examples of creative/innovative/provocative communication, use of social media like TikTok, about international cooperation that appeals to young people

- Drafting and conducting opinion research among young people on their opinions about and involvement in international cooperation

- Generating ideas on activities that could increase youth engagement.

- Advising Cordaid and Oxfam Novib on cooperation with youth (organizations).

Societal impact of ‘Culture Coaches’

Research question from Kielzog, Hoogezand

Do you have an interest in arts and culture? Or are you interested in the ways in which cultural participation can work? In this project you will explore arts and cultural participation in an accessible manner under the supervision of the culture coaches of Kielzog.

About Kielzog

Kielzog is a theatre, music school and creative workspace in the municipality of Midden-Groningen. The organisation is responsible for organizing theatre performances, both small and large scale creative projects and arts education. To make arts accessible to everyone in the municipality, Kielzog employs ‘culture coaches’. Culture coaches are professionals in the cultural field. These coaches research societal demands for cultural and artistic projects in the municipality of Midden-Groningen as well as in Hoogezand-Sappemeer. In this way the cultural coaches operate as a kind of middleman to connect cultural and societal organizations.

Research question

The function of a cultural coach is a dynamic one with a wide range of tasks. This demands flexibility and adaptability from the coaches. While these characteristics make the job attractive to some, it can also make it unclear and confusing at times. Kielzog finds itself running into two problems:

1.   The definition of a cultural coach: It remains difficult to delineate the function of a cultural coach for Kielzog. Cultural coaches work at the edges of the cultural domain. What does this mean for their function? And when they function as a middleman to connect cultural and societal organizations, do they do so to serve the cultural or societal goods? Is there a boundary between these two? If so, where is that boundary?

2.   In continuation of the last point: how can Kielzog make the contributions of the cultural coaches visible for the cultural coaches themselves, for Kielzog and for investors? And what type of impact do the cultural coaches make?

Assignment: Intercultural Communication and Training

Ministry of Defense, Cultural-historical Backgrounds and Information Section (CAI), Royal Netherlands Army

CAI

The Cultural-Historical Backgrounds and Information section is responsible for instructing (military) personnel on the cultural-historical and socio-cultural backgrounds of all deployment areas (peacekeeping, humanitarian, or crisis management operations) in which the Dutch armed forces are involved. The section's staff develop lesson programs, give presentations, and provide advice on optimizing the functioning of personnel deployed in foreign environments. Accurate background knowledge of the country, population, religion, culture, and etiquette in the mission area assists Dutch military, police, and civilian personnel in performing their duties in complex, sensitive, and high-risk environments.

Current Need

Currently, the cultural preparation for defense personnel is still heavily focused on knowledge transfer. The Cultural-Historical Backgrounds and Information section aims to develop a number of training methods to enhance the intercultural skills of military personnel. These methods will be used in general culture lessons. The focus for these methods is twofold: on the one hand, a method should focus on Dutch culture; on the other hand, a method should focus on the cultural areas of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Objective

The objective is for military personnel to become more aware of their own cultural background and its influence on their performance during deployment through various training methods and exercises. Additionally, skills should be practiced that can help military personnel communicate and interact effectively with the local population and allies. A "training method" is a broad concept, meaning it can encompass various approaches, as long as it is presented in an engaging manner.

Possible ideas include:

- Instructions for conducting a conversation with a specific actor, along with an accompanying evaluation; for example, a conversation with an Orthodox cleric in Estonia or a Shiite businessman in Beirut.

- A game that provides insight into how Dutch people communicate (abroad) and the origin and effect of this communication.

The Cultural-Historical Backgrounds and Information section would like these methods to be tested in practice during lessons where military personnel are present.

Target Audience

The defense personnel preparing for deployment is very diverse. This diversity should also be reflected in the various training methods, with distinctions made between methods for enlisted personnel and officers, for example. Additionally, it is important to consider how training prior to the mission can be reinforced on-site through repetition exercises or other methods.

Building a community of young people through Art.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” - Nelson Mandela

JONGE HARTEN - Who we are

Jonge Harten is a nine day festival in Groningen that stages theater, performances, dance and more. Its themes will often leave a lasting impression, and will challenge you to not always play things safe. The performances might make you feel uncomfortable and you can often relate to the topics, but they will always get a discussion going. Are you a spectator? No. You will experience the performances in any way you want.

What do we want to know?

Project assignment: To build and execute a tool that can measure the impact our festival has on our audience.

Every year we organize a festival where young people (12-29 years old) get touched by performances. We want to know how to capture their experience (qualitatively) and communicate that effectively with our stakeholders. So first and foremost we want to ask you:

Which tool can help us measure our impact on our audience?

We have tried some impact measurements in the past and are already developing some tools to try for this year, but we’d like you to execute the data collection and complete an advice for us, both with the results of the impact measurement and which tool worked best.

The content of the impact measurement is related to ideas about how culture, specifically the performing arts, impacts both the mental health of young people and their citizenship. Similarly we work from ideologies around (cultural) democracy, and we are interested in if we truly represent the voice of our audience. We’d like the tools to focus on any (or all) of the following questions:

• How are we contributing to the (development of) empathy of our audience?
• Which aspects of our festival contribute most to the personal and social development of our audience?
• How does our festival impact the creativity of our audience?
• How does theater contribute to larger societal themes, such as the future?
• What is the link between theater and (personal) expression?

Metavenues: digitale trends in de podiumkunst

Een vraag in opdracht van Spot Groningen

Ben jij geïnteresseerd in de relatie tussen cultuur en techniek? Wil jij meer weten over toekomstbestendige concertzalen en hoe nieuwe technologische ontwikkelingen impact hebben op de manier waarop we muziek beleven? En wil jij met jouw onderzoek een bijdrage leveren aan de plannen voor De Nieuwe Poort? Dan is deze opdracht helemaal voor jou.

Achtergrond

Metavenues is een Europees project waarin SPOT Groningen (Stadsschouwburg en Oosterpoort), ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) en Komodal (een bedrijf gespecialiseerd in metaverse) gezamenlijk optrekken in het verder verkennen van de (on)mogelijkheden van metavenues: hoe zou het podium van de toekomst eruit komen te zien met vernieuwende VR-technieken en AI? Samen met professionals uit het veld willen de partners uit dit project prototypes ontwikkelen en testen voor Europese podia. Maar welke innovatieve trends beperken zich tot trends, en welke zijn here to stay? En wat zegt de wetenschap hierover? Dat is waar SPOT meer inzicht in wil krijgen.

Dankzij de coronaperiode is er een creatieve slag gemaakt naar andere vormen van podiumkunstbeleving, bijvoorbeeld door middel van streams. Ook andere vormen van concertbeleving, zoals de hologrammen van ABBA of concerten in games zoals Fortnite (van o.a. Marshmello en Eminem), lijken een (commercieel) succes te zijn. Het lijkt er dus op dat virtuele omgevingen een verrijking kunnen zijn voor concertzalen, maar hoe geef je daar als regionale organisatie als SPOT een goede invulling aan?

Het onderzoek

Het onderzoek valt uiteen in drie onderdelen:

Theoretisch kader: een literatuuronderzoek naar concertbeleving en de invloed van technologische innovaties op de manier waarop mensen concerten beleven. Verder is het ook handig om middels literatuuronderzoek focus aan te brengen in welke technologische trends je meeneemt in je onderzoek (en welke niet).

Een inventaris maken van (on)succesvolle projecten en initiatieven: en waarom deze projecten het deden of niet. Dit door middel van een aantal interviews met professionals van Spot en ECHO, analyse van soortgelijke Europese projecten etc.

Advies: Aan de hand van deze informatie een aantal adviezen voor SPOT, specifiek gericht op de plannen voor de Nieuwe Poort, op welke vormen ze het beste kunnen investeren en hoe.

Product

Het eindproduct betreft een onderzoeksrapport, aangevuld met een adviesmemo: een handzaam document voor managers en bestuurders van SPOT.

Over de opdrachtgever

SPOT Groningen is de organisatie achter concertzaal de Oosterpoort en de Stadsschouwburg in Groningen. Op beide locaties vinden concerten, theatervoorstellingen, opera’s, dans- en cabaretvoorstellingen plaats. Tegelijkertijd biedt SPOT via het programma Crosswise ook een werk-leeromgeving aan, waarin studenten mbo en hbo samen met professionals van SPOT kunnen leren.