Hot on the heels of our 2018 Youth Social Action Programme funded through Heart of England Community Foundation and Big Lottery we decided to run the programme ourselves during the Summer Holidays in 2019.
We worked with 108 young people to help them discover about the positive mental health resources local to them and to take that message to the streets to let more young people know about them.
Over the 12 days our youth teams engaged with over 2000 people.
85% of the young people had never volunteered own a project before and more than three quarters said they would volunteer again in the future.
How our project met the four investment drivers that underpinned Big Lottery Fund’s investment:
Creating high quality opportunities that connect young people authentically to causes they can address? Our team of Four- Nate, Ed, Matt and Katie worked in small groups with the young people to help them discover two areas; developing an awareness of mental health issues and how to access support, and how to communicate these messages using online and offline media.
Engaging the younger age group to build a habit?We worked with young people 12+ to introduce them to the concept and practice of volunteering. 85% said they would do it again!
A continued focus on reaching young people from less socio-economically affluent communities? We engaged with young people in our local community of Ladywood and Birmingham City Centre with 70% of young people coming from areas classed as less affluent communities.
Prioritise sustainable solutions that can be scaled cost effectively by embedding social action opportunities where young people are and connecting young people to solve key challenges across society? Our social action opportunity was to use the increasing awareness of the benefits of positive mental health to engage them and their peers. We concentrated on proactive behaviours, better relationships and stress reduction. The young people used a combination of offline techniques- banners, posters and interactive elements as well as online promotion through instagram and Facebook.
Thanks to the whole team who gave up their time to create a great experience for the young people involved.
