Glossary and FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)

This page provides a glossary, which gives more definition to the terms we use, as well as a set of Frequently Asked Questions about the Heritage programme. These will be updated on a regular basis over the course of the application period, so do please look out for updated versions of this page

The Heritage programme is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.

Glossary

Equity-led or User-led groups 

By equity-led/ user-led, we mean organisations led by and for marginalised communities, in particular: 

  • Communities experiencing racial inequality 
  • Refugees
  • Deaf and Disabled People  
  • LGBT+ People  
  • Women and girls  

Heritage 

According to the Heritage Council, our heritage is what we have inherited from the past to value and enjoy in the present and to preserve and pass on to future generations.

This comprises of 

  •  the tangible – our historical sites, buildings, monuments, objects in museums, artifacts and archives
     
  • the natural – our waterways, landscapes, woodlands, bogs, uplands, native wildlife, insects, plants, trees, birds and animals
     
  • the intangible – our customs, sports, music, dance, folklore, crafts, skills, and traditions 

Heritage is important because it helps shape our identity. Our heritage becomes part of what we are. Our expression of this identity shows others what we value; it highlights our values and priorities. 

Our heritage provides clues to our past and how our society has evolved. It helps us examine our history and traditions and enables us to develop an awareness of ourselves. It helps us understand and explain why we are the way we are. 

Heritage is a keystone of our culture that plays an important role in our politics, society, business, and worldview. It informs, influences, and inspires public debate and policy both directly and indirectly. 

Cold spots 

London Youth defines cold spots as areas where there is a lack of funding for youth projects. Their distance from central London and the major heritage institutions have traditionally served as a geographic barrier to engagement for these young people. The boroughs we are working with are:

  • Haringey 
  • Redbridge 
  • Harrow 
  • Ealing 
  • Hounslow 
  • Brent 
  • Enfield 
  • Newham

Capacity Building 

We provide youth organisations with a range of support. This is to help develop your organisation to become more fundable, effective, and resilient.  Capacity building is the support provided to enable this to happen and will automatically influence areas such as mission and structure, fundraising and finances, effective marketing, and youth involvement. 

FAQ’s

1. Who is this programme designed for? 

Answer: The Heritage programme is designed for youth organisations within our London Youth Membership. We are especially inviting youth groups to apply who are equity-led and work with diverse young people aged 13-19 who are underserved in our society.

2. Where will this programme take place? 

Answer: The programme is mainly structured around your youth organisation and its location. Although we will facilitate a skills taster day at a venue in central London the remainder of your sessions will involve your community and will therefore be based wherever you are and within your close reach.

 3. What is the programme structure? 

Answer: The programme kicks off with a skills taster day in July with the Museum of Youth Culture and our skills partners. Once your young people have chosen a skill they want to focus on they will receive Oral History training in the form of four in-depth sessions with On the Record, which will include conducting interviews with community members. To get even more inspired and encouraged to preserve heritage they will be invited to visit their local archives. After the interviews have been completed, the group will find a creative way to showcase their findings with their peers and community members at their very own celebration event.

4. Who are the programme partners? 

Answer: London Youth will oversee the overall delivery and support of this programme.  On the Record will provide oral history training for youth workers prior to the start of the programme. They will also run various sessions on a weekly basis and training for young people. Our skills partners are YSM8, Eat Club, The Movement Factory and The Museum of Youth Culture. The programme is funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund. 

5. What funding can my organisation access through this programme and what can we use it for?  

Answer: Your organisation will receive a total of up to £3,000 in support costs for this project. It is divided roughly into:  

  • £1.200 contribution for youth worker’s time and youth organisations costs to deliver this project 
  • £200 for young people’s visits to local archives 
  • £400 for young people’s food and travel expenses 
  • £400 for equipment and material to conduct oral history interviews  
  • £750 towards a local showcase event for your young people to share their findings and project with their community and peers 

6. What support will my organisation receive? 

Answer: Once successful in your application, your designated youth worker(s) will receive a two-day training course from London Youth and On the Record enabling you to run the programme in line with your own youth work provision. Here, you will have the chance to connect and network with other organisations and share experiences. We will work with you on establishing the best way to support the monitoring and evaluation of the project to measure impact within your organisation and community. Besides the funding you will also get support from On the Record with some of the sessions and check-ins from London Youth to ensure you feel supported throughout. Our external evaluators will find the best ways in which we can encapsulate your young people’s journey and we will ensure that they are part of capturing their growth.

 7. What commitment is required from the youth worker(s)? 

Answer: Youth workers are expected to recruit at least 10 young people to take part in this project over a course of around 3 months. They also must participate in our induction training, which consists of 2 days on how to ethically run this project with your group. Youth workers are expected to run the project and safeguard young people at all times. We encourage them to support young people to take the lead in the project. It is expected that youth workers will accompany their group to the skills taster day and the visits to a local archive. Youth workers will support young people find members of the community, who will be interviewed as part of the project and help them fill out the necessary documents to comply with GDPR. Youth workers will also support young people with planning and running the showcase event at the end of their project. They will also participate in a reflective session at the end of the programme to help us understand how we can improve it.

 8. What is the programme timeline? 

Answer: The training for youth workers will take place in June. The project itself kicks off with young people attending the skills taster day in July. Sessions and interviews will run throughout the summer and their creative showcase will be around October half term. All in all, the overall timeline is roughly 3-5 months.

 9. What are the requirements for our organisation to take part? 

Answer: Your organisation will be a London Youth member. If you are not, please inquire with membership@londonyouth.org about how to become a member (the process is very simple and offers many benefits). Please also check that your membership has been renewed for this new year.
You also must work with young people from diverse backgrounds aged around 13-19 with all necessary safeguarding measures in place. Ideally, you will be location-based and have a space where young people can safely run this project with your support in one of the following boroughs:

  • Haringey 
  • Redbridge 
  • Harrow 
  • Ealing 
  • Hounslow 
  • Brent 
  • Enfield 
  • Newham 

If you don’t have a fixed youth center, please reach out to us via email at cassie.doerfler@londonyouth.org. We can do our best to connect you to youth services in your area to see if they may partner with you for this project. All successful organisations will be required to complete the London Youth due diligence process. More information about due diligence can be found here. https://londonyouth.org/due-diligence/

10. Can I apply for more than one placement? 

Answer: We cannot guarantee a second placement. If you have several youth provisions in more than one of the target boroughs, you may apply for another spot. You can also let us know in an email at cassie.doerfler@londonyouth.org or the expression of interest form if you would like to do a second round starting in January 2024 and build on your newly gained experience.

11. What is the required age range for young people? 

Answer: The ideal age is between 13-19 years old as this is where many questions about identity and belonging could form. We are open to other age ranges up to 24 years. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this further

12. What are the programme outcomes for young people and youth organisations? 

Answer: We are currently in the process of defining our monitoring, evaluation and learning framework with external evaluators, young people and member organisations to ensure that the programme offers meaningful and measurable outcomes to create the impact we are seeking. We believe that heritage should be for everyone. Young people, especially from second and third-generation migrant backgrounds have felt a disconnect and strong barriers to heritage. Often the stories of their culture and traditions have not been captured and celebrated. We want young people to feel a sense of belonging and identity within their organisations, learn transferable skills and offer creative ways to express their learnings. Our aim is to also support youth organisations with new tools and support to continue this work and sustain the connections with the people that make London so diverse in their areas.

13. How will you measure the impact of this programme? 

Answer: We will have an external evaluator consult with our team members and young people to design a MEL framework. We will collect a mixture of quantitative data, which measures the reach and demographics of the project and high-quality qualitative data captured through creative tools and participatory methodologies decided by the young people on the programme. The young people will have an opportunity to captivate their own journeys. At the end of the programme we will create an in-depth report to share with the funder and stakeholders.

14. What are the MEL (monitoring, evaluation and learning) requirements from our organisation?  

Answer: At the beginning of the programme we will speak to you about how your organisation captures data. We will try our best to work in line with this to reduce any additional work. Our requirements are that you fill out different forms, which we will then enter into our database. We might ask for updates and visits from our external evaluators, and we might train some of your young people to capture data in a creative way themselves.

15. Is there a certain number of young people our organisation needs to reach to qualify for this project? 

Answer: We are expecting organisations to recruit 10 young people for this project.

16. Is there a certain number of sessions we have to deliver?  

Answer: This varies from project to project and group to group. We recommend running this project with your group for 3 months with the help of On the Record, who will give your young people support and training in oral history. Ideally, your youth worker will run this project at least once a week where the same young people come together to continue this work and plan their creative project.  

17. Can we work with another organisation to deliver this project?  

Answer: If the other organisation is in one of the target boroughs mentioned, we can discuss what a meaningful partnership could look like. We always encourage partnership work across organisations to strengthen the sector and support young people. Please contact cassie.doerfler@londonyouth.org to talk this through.  

18. Can we take a hybrid approach to deliver this project (online and in person)?  

Answer: We are encouraging in-person delivery to strengthen interpersonal skills but want to remove as many barriers as possible for young people to be able to discover their heritage. Please discuss this with us further and contact cassie.doerfler@londonyouth.org.  

19. Is there a minimum or maximum income criteria in order to be eligible for this programme?  

Answer: No. We want all types of youth organisations to be able to apply for this programme.

20. Our beneficiaries have special educational needs and disabilities, can I still apply?  

Answer: Absolutely, if your organisation can support your young people to enjoy and learn from this opportunity, we encourage you to apply.  

 

For further questions please contact cassie.doerfler@londonyouth.org.