Youth Social Action Resource Hub

This guide can help users maximise the impact of working in partnership with the local community. Community and stakeholder engagement in a youth social action programme involves young people working with other interested individuals or organisations to deliver action and change. The engagement can help increase access to students' learning opportunities, boost student retention, promote optimism among teachers, and improve children's school attendance rates.

This project was sponsored by the Ormiston Trust to promote performing arts within Birmingham, enabling them to access specialist teaching and resources utilising the facilities at Birmingham Ormiston Academy. In 2022/23, BOA's Super Saturday School ran for six weeks, and BOA aimed to improve the programme to be eight weeks in 2023/24. The outreach scheme caters for school children from ages 4 to 16. The children who attend the weekend provision journey from all areas of Birmingham and represent over 40 schools from various backgrounds and cultures.

We Are Patrick is delivered by young men. Young men have designed a toolkit, which male volunteers use in 90-minute sessions in schools across Suffolk. The toolkit presents a series of difficult scenarios based on the life of fictional character, Patrick. It uses film, spoken verse, imagery and flashcards created by volunteers to journey young people though decision-making scenarios based on fictional characters. The project aims to educate peers on the issues of sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, honor-based violence and gang grooming, while lobbying for changes to social policy and practice on these issues and promoting young people’s voices.

This group of young women was united by their passion to make their public spaces safer for the whole community of Stratford (London). They were fed-up with having to avoid particular places because of the fear of experiencing violence, harassment and unwanted attention. Others had experienced the same behavior's in their neighborhoods and on their way to school. Designed by young people, Pop Path creates joyful murals and informative campaigns that bring a sense of community. It also equips members of the community with the information and practical tools to deal with the negative impact of harassment.

Two schools collaborated - Marsden Heights Community College and Park High School Colne – for the students to discuss the issues which were important to them and the wider community. The project took the students on a journey to learn about the school, local, national and international matters. They learnt and expressed how they felt about things and what their peers thought too. They engaged with local councilors, community workers and the general public on current matters. They then worked with a local poet to create a message to go back to the school and the community about their experience.

The Advocacy Academy is an activist youth movement of young leaders fighting for justice and equality. They serve as the political home for grassroots youth organizing and the catalyst for collective action. The power of movement building is not about feeling ‘confident’ or ‘courageous’. Power is the ability to act; this is important when 88% of young people feel that their voices are completely unheard in society. They run immersive programmed to train young leaders who then continue their journey with The Advocacy Academy. Currently, there are 122 alumni.

11 young Traveler peer researchers were trained in basic qualitative research skills and assisted in creating a questionnaire. The peer researchers interviewed 44 x 15 - 25-year-old Travelers in London about the barriers they have faced around education, both in school and at home. They were also asked for their recommendations for improvements to the education system. The research found that the experience of bullying in school is more of a norm than an exception for young Travelers in London.

Young people identify people in their lives who are ‘hidden heroes’ – those people who go the extra mile every day and expect nothing in return, never seeking accolades.
In this video, the young people are face-to-face with their hidden heroes so that they can tell them what makes them extra special. The hidden heroes then respond.
These hidden heroes are all role models in their own right, showing the young people that they too can make a positive difference in the world and enrich others’ lives.