Crossover is the trading name of Liss Youth Centre and is a charity that was set up in May 2006 by a team of Liss residents, working with the local Churches and the Parish Council. Crossover was created as there were many young people in the village with nothing to do and these youngsters were known to be causing some issues in the village and youth crime was known to be high. The Crossover team set out to make a change for the better. Crossover is not a religious or political organization.
Crossover was opened in May 2006 and at first it only opened for a couple of sessions a week. A Manager was appointed and sessions were mainly run, for free, by volunteers who just wanted the young people to have somewhere to hang out safely, where they weren’t bothering anyone else. It was important to those running Crossover that the young people of Liss had somewhere to call their own.
Crossover has grown over the past decade and is now open six times a week with sessions split into different age groups. Different sessions cater to different needs, with a mixture of targeted work, craft, music, cooking, fun and games. There are currently six Trustees and around fifteen volunteers who offer their free time to ensure that Crossover remains open for the young people of the area, at no charge. The team running Crossover (Trustees, Manager, Volunteers, Youth Workers and administrative staff) are committed to ensuring that any young people who come to Crossover have a friendly, secure place to drop in, where they are valued as individuals and can grow to their full potential. There is always a warm supportive atmosphere and young people bring their worries and their triumphs to Crossover and they are helped and/or praised as appropriate. In situations where the young person requires assistance that Crossover cannot provide, they are passed on to someone or another organisation who can help.
Many young people who have reached the final year of Crossover (19 years of age) and moved on in the world have re-visited Crossover years later and thanked us for giving them a chance or helping them out, or just for being there. Crossover is proud of what it achieves and it is a very valuable part of the local community. Furthermore, both the Police and the Parish Council have noted that anti-social behaviour in the area has dropped significantly since the opening of Crossover.