A Hope Hack is a day-long workshop that gives young people aged 15-25 a voice and focuses on their hopes for the future. This involves groups discussing their thoughts and solutions on issues that affect them, their lives and their communities.
Over the last two years, the Hope Collective has delivered a series of Hope Hack events across the UK. The Hope Collective formed to support the campaign for Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old boy who wrote of his hope to change the world, shortly before his untimely death in 2000. Hope Hack events honour his memory by dedicating the campaign to young people and their aspirational stories of ambition and hope. The Hope Collective aims to establish real change that helps the UK’s most vulnerable communities to be free from poverty, violence and discrimination.
Violence Reduction Units (VRU) across the UK organised these events for their local area, giving young people chance to work with each other in workshops to generate ideas for a key issue in the community.
During the event, the young people split into smaller workshop groups to discuss a key topic. Each group covers a different theme:
- Mental Health and Wellbeing - The provision of support for young people.
- Community Safety - Features of the community that help young people feel safer.
- Youth Voice and Influence - The benefits of giving young people a voice and the ability to influence policy.
- Diverse Experiences - How 'who you are' affects how safe you feel.
- Sports and other activities - What activities work best and how can we ensure inclusion?
- Life Skills - Real world learning, education and support.
- Aspirations and Opportunities - Goals, career ambitions and hopes for the future.
Each group had the opportunity to present their ideas to local leaders and a wider audience at the end of the event. Locally, this feedback informed our future work and helped us understand what young people think would be the greatest solutions to problems in our local community.
The ideas and solutions from the hacks were also incorporated into a national report - written by the Hope Collective - to create the biggest needs assessment into what young people think a fairer society looks like, what the current challenges are for young people and what solutions would drive long-lasting change. In terms of the national picture, this report will be used in decision-making and policy, allowing the government to hear the voices of people aged 15-25.
For a detailed overview of our Humberside Hope Hacks, click the buttons below.
