The power of social action for all young people
05 June 2019
Today is Youth Social Action Day and it’s important to reflect on the power that social action projects have on the young people we work with though London Youth’s diverse membership.
Our Youth Social Action programmes bring together young people from member organisations across London. For our member organisations it is about delivering quality projects that can explore new areas of work and for young people it is the chance to lead projects on issues in their community that matter the most to them. Young people in every borough of the capital are involved in social action projects that strengthen their communities.
Last year we began our conservation based social action project Keeping it Wild in partnership with The London Wildlife Trust and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project has taken young people out of their comfort zones and into some of London’s amazing wild and green spaces. It has given them inspiration to create community projects that protect London’s wildlife including building bee hotels and creating spaces to support natural habitats.
Through City Leaders we run an open social action programme for young people where they identify issues they care about through sessions with youth workers and then pitch for funding to make their community projects a reality. This year we’ve had 24 teams with creative ideas including recording podcasts on youth violence, building communal gardens for the elderly and starting mentoring projects for young people with learning difficulties.
Over the last 3 years, YouthLeads has built young people’s leadership potential through managing their own social action projects. From creating a magazine to share the challenges of being a carer to creating theatre productions that challenge negative stereotypes of young people, we’ve had a range of brilliant projects.
East London Leaders, our newest programme, is working around the theme of local identity and has supported a diverse range of young people across five boroughs. After exploring their own identity and what this means to them, they have pitched for funding for campaigns and projects to bring communities together. Whether it’s a campaign to tackle hate graffiti, running workshops with the police or supporting the homeless community, young people have taken pride in their local areas through their fantastic projects.
Social action at its core should be inclusive of all young people, we have loved working with such a diverse range of young people and organisations through all of our programmes. Our social action programmes create opportunities for young Londoners to empower themselves and make their communities better places to live, that’s why we believe in the #PowerOfYouth.
We’re always impressed by the range of projects that our members and their young people deliver, and this year has been no exception. If you’d like to make a change in your communities through joining City Leaders, East London Leaders or Keeping it Wild then please get in touch.
– Robbie Cheyne, Youth Action Delivery Officer
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For more information on our Youth Social Action programmes, click here.
