Mobile youth work is one of the methods of preventive youth work, aiming to build and maintain trusting relationships with young people, support their development, and empower young people in their daily lives.
While open youth work is primarily carried out in youth centers, mobile youth work takes place where young people actually are. These environments can include streets and other public places, parks, shopping centers, playgrounds, school surroundings, and also digital environments (Snapchat, Discord, etc.).
Mobile youth work is divided into five main areas of activity:
* work in public spaces
* individual work with young people
* group work
* community work
* network youth work
The Tartu Youth Work Centre offers young people inviting and contact-creating youth work, also known as mobile youth work (MoNo). The aim of MoNo is to reach young people in their own environments – where they spend most of their time. These include, for example, school surroundings, shopping centres, parks, playgrounds, and virtual spaces on various digital platforms.
Since autumn 2020, in addition to open youth work, the Tartu Youth Work Centre also provides youth work in Tartu's public spaces, being visible and accessible to young people even outside the walls of youth centres.
Outreach youth work is a sub-type of mobile youth work, the aim of which is to introduce youth work opportunities to young people and reach those who would not otherwise visit youth centres. This is carried out by Tartu Youth Work Centre staff both on the streets and in shopping centres of Tartu as well as in digital environments where young people actively gather.
Youth workers operate in public spaces five days a week from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. On average, 300-400 young people are engaged with each month.
Last year, 2025, over 4035 direct contacts with young people were made in public spaces as part of mobile youth work.
Mobile youth work is long-term and consistent work that helps build trust, prevent the exclusion of young people, and support their safe and diverse development.
MoNo provides an opportunity to reach young people who are beyond the scope of traditional youth work. These could be young people who spend their time elsewhere and may not access the opportunities offered by various youth work sectors. This also includes young people who need support but cannot always articulate it directly or seek it out themselves. This mobile and flexible form of youth work helps support young people's development and inclusion, raise their awareness of opportunities, offer support, and create safe communication.
establish contact with young people gathering on the streets
to conduct observations to find out where young people gather and what they do
to talk with young people about topics concerning them, such as healthy lifestyle, current events in society, risk behavior and its prevention, etc.
to introduce opportunities and activities aimed at young people in the city of Tartu
to offer support to young people and, if necessary, guidance to various specialists
digital youth work, during which workers can be present for young people on social media and other platforms
to cooperate with other specialists and service providers
Mobile Youth Work Coordinator Riin Juurma
Phone: +372 5450 2232
Email address: riin.juurma@tartu.ee
Social media channels for mobile youth work and digital youth work:
Tartu MoNo Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/mono.tartu/
You can contact Digital Youth Worker Gerd via the following links:
Discord: https://bit.ly/tntkdisc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diginoorsootootartu
Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/@g_jurjo
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/digigert
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tartuntk
Tartu Youth Work Center also offers the opportunity to shadow street-based youth work in order to gain a more detailed understanding of what street-based youth work entails. To do so, please contactcoordinator Riin Juurma (riin.juurma@tartu.ee).
To conduct outreach street work, the youth workers of Tartu Youth Work Centre have completed various training courses, such as street work methodology training by Elo Lättemägi.
There was also an Erasmus+ KA2 project “Street Youth Work ABC” in cooperation with Latvia, which aimed to enhance staff competencies based on mobile youth work and create training materials for new employees.
A digital youth worker helps bring youth work to the places where young people spend most of their time: Discord, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitch. In these environments, young people can ask for information, get initial advice, and participate in online activities.
Many young people never visit youth centers or are not visible in the urban landscape, yet they also need information about available opportunities, where to find help, and how to get support for their concerns so they don't feel alone.
In addition to providing counseling and sharing information, the digital youth worker will also:
Game nights (CS2, Rocket League, Fortnite, Jackbox, etc.)
quizzes
chat & chill – let's talk about life, our thoughts, and whatever's on our minds right now
Gert, a youth worker at the Lille Youth Center who is already familiar to young people, began working as a digital youth worker in February and will continue his work at the youth center as well. He is in contact with young people on digital platforms mainly in the evenings and on weekends. You can find the exact times when he is online on his Instagram (@diginoorsootootartu).
Gert is developing a digital youth work service as part of the Erasmus+ project“Youth Work 360° – mobile, digital, inclusive, and accessible.”The results of this pilot project will help shape sustainable digital youth work solutions that truly meet the needs of young people in the future.
You can contact Gerd via the following links:
Discord: https://bit.ly/tntkdisc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diginoorsootootartu
Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/@g_jurjo
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/digigert
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tartuntk
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Leverage agile frameworks to provide a robust synopsis for high level overviews. Iterative approaches to corporate strategy data foster to collaborative thinking.
Leverage agile frameworks to provide a robust synopsis for high level overviews. Iterative approaches to corporate strategy data foster to collaborative thinking.