Curious Project 6

Pendle Children's Trust

Developing a voice for young people in regeneration.

Curious project 6 advertised widely throughout Pendle to involve a broad range of young people in a consultation event. The event took place on Saturday 13^th March 2010. The purpose of this was to work with young people in the Pendle area to develop a process that encourages young people to share their learning and experiences of being involved in a regeneration project.

Youth groups, Pendle youth council, schools and individuals we had worked along side before were invited to an event at Nelson Youth Centre, which used creative ways to facilitate the process. Group workshops, silk painting and filmmaking were used to work with the group in attendance.

The group workshops work began with welcome and introductions and working with the group to find out what their individual knowledge if any of Children’s trust were. None of the group had any clear knowledge of The Children’s trust, they were asked to record what they thought it might be on flip chart paper as a group. Various suggestions from ‘its where children can talk to a trusted adult’ to ‘its where people save money for your future.’ were made. An explanation was given by the facilitator, in a manner that could be understood appropriate to the age range of young people in attendance (12 – 20). The group were then asked about ‘The Every Child Matters agenda’. The entire group had heard of this – and volunteers were asked to record what they thought the five strands were on clothing shapes that had been cut out, so they could be hung on our indoor washing line. The creative concept of this was that all young peoples opinions could be ‘aired’ publicly on the washing line. This would be added to with ideas throughout the event – pegs and clothing were scattered around the room – so that thoughts and ideas could be added to at anytime. The Every Child Matters Agenda was quite well known amongst young people and between the groups they easily recorded the five strands. This awareness had come mainly from work done in school, though some awareness had been developed through media and youth groups. The group decided it was a very positive ‘thing’ for young people and the majority liked the idea of ‘adults being on their side’ . The group was also asked how they would like to be communicated with by Children’s Trusts, asking for their opinions. The group agreed that text messaging was their preferred method of communication. Followed by a letter being sent inviting them (or a funky post card!) lastly via social networking sites. 

The community regeneration concept was very mixed. The majority of the group had a broad range of perceptions, ranging from ‘making their community a nicer place to live’ to ‘making sure everyone does their garden, and if they can’t helping them’ .We also asked them about the regeneration projects they had previously been involved with. The outcome of this was that if they had been involved it had been through a youth group or local neighbourhood management. The group came up with some really creative and innovative ideas for future projects. 

After a break the group began creating silk hangings to showcase at the event at the ACE centre for the launch of CURIOUS PROJECT 6. Becky the artist engaged the group to think about what they had talked about and how they could showcase this in a piece of art. Looking at creative ways to regeneration in their areas and thinking about what they would like to see happen locally.

During the painting we took people on one side to film their thoughts about regeneration and inform CURIOUS PROJECT 6 of pieces of work they had previously been involved with, and thoughts on how they would encourage other young people to come forward and become ambassadors for regenerating their local area. Taking an active role in speaking out to policy maker and local authority looking towards positive change for the future. A film was made and showcased at the event. 

Learning outcomes

The event went really well and young people developed a clearer understand of Children’s Trusts, The Every Child Matters agenda and the regeneration process. This also assisted the group to develop knowledge on becoming ambassadors for their local community, and open pathways for them to become involved in future project. There were several unintended learning outcomes at the event, which involved the cultural and dietary needs of others.

Develo