He is known simply as Don to the hundreds of underprivileged kids he helps every year.

Many of them come from broken homes and some have been deserted by their own fathers.

Don Brown has become a second father to them, gaining their trust and helping them overcome their problems.

As the full-time youth worker at Hove YMCA he has helped many youngsters to kick heroin and crack habits.

Some youngsters who have used the centre now work there as volunteers and their own children belong to the growing number of youth groups based at the building in Marmion Road.

Don has decided to step down as the "Mr Yoof" of Hove and will concentrate on projects to improve life for all the residents of the area around Portland Road.

The area has just won neighbourhood renewal status and he will co-ordinate work on projects chosen by the community.

Don will also use his 13 years of experience in the neighbourhood to try to have a say on what Brighton and Hove City Council spends taxpayers' money on locally.

He is standing as a Labour candidate in the Tory-held Westbourne ward at the local elections next month.

Don said: "I hope to use the experience I have gained to help the wider community.

"I am not leaving the YMCA completely and will still work here at Marmion Road on projects to improve West Hove for everyone.

"Westbourne ward has a high proportion of elderly people and it has the one of the highest suicide rates among the elderly across the city.

"It also has the highest proportion of elderly who have debilitating illnesses, such as cancer, and who are susceptible to falls.

"Many live in bedsits or flats and are lonely and isolated because they have nobody visiting them.

"I would like to do more for these and other people to provide community facilities for them and to offer them support."

His record at the YMCA speaks for itself.

There was nothing for youngsters in West Hove when he began working at the centre.

He had two part-time workers, a cleaner and a caretaker when he took over the job from former Brighton and Hove Albion director David Bellotti in 1990.

Only a small group of 30 or 40 youngsters regularly used the centre then. That has now grown to more than 300 a week.

The YMCA now has 90 staff employed at its centres and shops across Brighton and Hove and offers a wide range of advice and counselling services for young people in the city.

Don helped to set up the Parksafe scheme to drive away drug dealers and make parks in Hove safe for residents and young children to use.

The scheme has been adopted by the city council and is being used as a model for other parks, including Saunders Park and Queens Park in Brighton.

Don won money to help residents improve Stoneham Park in Hove, which had become a magnet for dealers and junkies.

He said: "It took seven years to get the council to take me seriously and to cut back the hedges around the park.

"While they were there nobody could see what was going on inside the park.

"In a way, the residents were happy with that because they were shielded from what was happening.

"Once the hedges came down, the dealers lost their cover and the residents were able to reclaim the park for the community."

At the same time, Don was working hard to provide support for the addicts by getting them on to detox programmes.

He carried out a survey on the extent of the drugs problem in West Hove, which discovered children as young as eight were hooked on hard drugs.

Don's report was posted on the internet and organisations from as far away as China have travelled to Hove to see how he is helping to deal with the problems.

Don said: "Over the years I have got to know not only the kids but their families as well.

"Any problems can usually be sorted out without getting the police involved.

"If I find any of them up to anything they shouldn't be, I tell them I will let their mother or older brother know what they are up to if I catch them doing it again. It usually works."

Don has just returned from leading 14 teenagers on a trip to help other underprivileged children in Gambia.

Some had never flown before and one had only ever been on one trip out of Hove, to the Isle of Wight.

The youngsters came back with a new perspective on life and are now working to help sponsor the education of children in the African country.

Don said: "When you see things like that, or a former addict you have helped comes back to show you their baby, it makes you feel proud.

"There is no doubt that if it had not been for the work of the YMCA, a lot of the young people we have dealt with would not be alive now.

"I will still be involved with that but only part-time.

"It is time to move on to see what I can do for others in the community."

David Standing, chief executive of Hove YMCA, said: "Don has made a tremendous contribution over the years, building up a youth work programme which is second to none in the city and has a positive impact on the lives of so many young people.

"He will be sadly missed and we would like to thank him for his commitment and hard work over the years."