For this month’s spotlight on an organisation changing lives for the better in Sheffield, Joseph Food sits down with Anthony ‘Big Ant’ Olaseinde, the founder of Always an Alternative – a charity supporting young people in South Yorkshire and helping them to make positive life choices.
“Growing up, I did stuff that I shouldn’t have done,” Anthony Olaseinde tells me. “Why? Because people around me were doing it; I didn’t have the positive role models and you’re led to believe it’s your only option.”
Plain-speaking but equally personable, you can easily see why young people relate to Ant when he begins sharing his experience of life on the streets of Sheffield. Today, as director of the not-for-profit charity Always An Alternative, his role is to challenge and change the mindset of young people when it comes to violent crime and gang culture in the city.
He explains that the turning point came after he began questioning the day-to-day life he was leading. “I didn’t enjoy what I was doing, I knew it was wrong. Why am I constantly trying to watch my back? Why am I looking to address issues with violence? I eventually thought to myself, ‘There has to be more to life than this. This doesn’t make sense.’”
Actively choosing to take a more positive path in life, Ant went to college and got the grades to study a degree in Computer Network Engineering at university. He gained first-class honours, achieved a masters in the same subject and eventually set up his own security company before moving into projects to help younger people make more informed choices with their lives. “I got into a place where I was able to start giving back, so that’s what I did.”
Six years ago, Ant started ‘Keep Sheffield Stainless’ – a campaign to reduce the number of knives on the streets through education, support and amnesty. As well as six weapons bins dotted across the region (locations are all listed at alwaysanalternative.org.uk), people are able to contact Ant and he will personally and discreetly pick up the weapons himself. To date, this campaign has taken over 1,000 knives off the streets.
Always An Alternative was formed as a deeper dive into the issues highlighted by Keep Sheffield Stainless. Their aim is to spread awareness around current risks to young people from knife crime, the glamourisation of gang culture and anti-social behaviour. Through a variety of initiatives ranging from talks and workshops in schools to the creation of podcasts, documentaries and music projects, alongside regular youth clubs held in Fox Hill and High Green, the primary objective is to provide young individuals with a safe environment where they can hear and be heard. Through a blend of social interaction, mentoring and community engagement, they are given the tools to respond positively to the challenges they may come up against.
I eventually thought to myself, ‘There has to be more to life than this. This doesn’t make sense.’
“I think the way we engage with young people is vital,” he says. “Just putting them in a room and telling them what to do won’t work. Using my life experience, I try to give them the information I needed at their age, and then you have to leave some of the responsibility down to them. The youth clubs give kids a safe space to chill and be kids, but we’ll also discuss things like current affairs, teaching them the skills of how to have a debate and how to learn.”
On that note, the charity is currently in the final stages of preparing to launch their mobile youth club, having transformed a van into a travelling gaming and music production studio. “That has been a graft!” laughs Ant. “It’s taken a year and a lot of YouTube tutorials but it’s all come together now.”
“Tackling knife crime is just the tip of what we do,” he continues. “It goes way deeper than that. Most of the work we do is around mentoring young people in Sheffield. That’s the best way to change situations for the better, and it’s something that I love doing. It’s easy to get caught up in our own lives, but I think, if you’re given the option, you should always choose to help others. It’s a big world out there and we need to connect with each other.”
Find out more about the work Always An Alternative does at alwaysanalternative.org.uk. You can also follow the charity’s latest updates on socials: Facebook / Instagram / X
