We’re delighted to report that we’ve recently been shortlisted for the Children & Young People Now Awards 2022!
This nomination is for our Dream, Believe, Succeed Project – an alliance of local organisations and individuals working together to provide new enriching, experiences for children and young people in Edmonton. Focusing on the transformative power of the arts, our partners provide a programme of in-school and extracurricular activities to inspire young people to meet their full potential. A combination of creative arts, youth mentoring and family intervention has been delivered to over 2,500 children and young people in Edmonton over the past two and a half years.
The Youth Work Award
For the initiative that has done the most to promote young people’s personal development and help them achieve their potential through youth work, informal education and participation in positive activities, especially among disadvantaged or excluded groups.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank each of our organisations individually, and tell you a little more about what they do.
Platinum Performing Arts, an award-winning arts academy, who have provided creative arts experiences designed to build self-esteem and facilitate self-examination. A multitude of activities have been offered, from holiday clubs and in-school workshops to attending professional productions. As a part of this project Platinum have developed a short film and staged a production to inspire young people to make better choices, with both works informed by the experiences of the young people they have worked with.
The British DJ & MC Academy provide music and radio workshops in our local schools as well as public spaces in our community. Over a series of 6 weeks, they help students learn creative skills such as music production and radio presenting. Outside of schools they have conducted outreach work/place-based work, utilising their ‘DJ van’ (fitted with instruments and production equipment) to provide music workshops in areas of our community young people are known to congregate. This outreach intervention model allows us to work with harder to reach young people who may be at risk of or already involved in gang related crime; helping them to tap into and develop their music and media skills.
Blingwear Arts run creative workshops lead by an experienced graffiti artist. Children and young people have created a logos for their own brand through experimenting with various materials and mediums, learning new skills and being shown the value of their own ideas.
We'd also like to thank you team of Youth Mentors, who conduct one-on-one and group work with a targeted caseload of vulnerable young people referred by our schools and other partners on the project. Our mentors work with a specialist caseload to support emotional wellbeing and mental health, speaking with families, schools, and local services as an advocate for each of their young people – ensuring a wraparound/multi-agency approach.
We won’t find out until the 24th November whether we’ve won the Youth Work Award, but to even be nominated is a huge achievement for our organisation, and a testament to the excellent work our partners, mentors and schools have delivered through working together.
To learn more about this year’s CYP Now awards, you can visit their website here: