Working with a group of students from High Tunstall College of Science for over 5 weeks, we facilitated in developing an idea of a campaign they could carry out as Junior Campaigners. This group consisted of 10 young people, who all had a passion to help improve the mental health of older generations who live in care homes over the Christmas period. After a discussion on how best to help the residents, the young people decided on making 20 mental health wellbeing packs; personal hygiene items, colouring and puzzle books, hot water bottles, selection packs of chocolates, hot chocolate sachets, blankets, and so much more. They also all made individual heartfelt Christmas cards to go in each pack, to make them more personal. Then came the decision of where the packs should go to - They ended up choosing Lindisfarne Care Home in Hartlepool, as it’s local to their school. The young people designed a poster to go along with this, and were very proud of what they had done throughout the whole campaign. “I feel so proud of us for doing this. The elderly might have no one to buy them Christmas presents - We might have just made someone’s day”. While YFNE staff dropped the packs off at the home, the staff extended their sincere appreciation for all the young peoples hard work and care, they stated “it is nice to see young people thinking about the elderly. Please send them all our thanks!”.

At High Tunstall College of Science, we have been working with a fantastic group of young people over the months November and December in developing an idea of what they would like to campaign about for the project junior campaigners. In the group we had 8 young people who decided that they would like to campaign about homelessness in the local area as this is what the group were passionate about! The group started off by deciding that they would like to deliver care packages to the local homeless shelter which was local to the school. The young people wanted to make up 20 care packages 10 being for females and 10 for males. The young people then decided that they would like to do this for the campaign the young people then came up with items that they would like to put inside each of the care packages. These are some of the items that that the young people came up with; Hats, Gloves, Socks, Blankets, Soaps, Hand wash and foods such as Pot noodles and easy open canned food like carrots alongside so much more! The young people came to the decision that they would like to deliver the care packages to Cornerstone Homeless shelter and with it being near Christmas time the young people also came up with the idea of making up Christmas cards for the shelter and also a poster to put up around the school to spread the awareness of homelessness in the local area. One of the young people stated “I feel like I’m really making someone’s day actual someone’s year by making these care packages for the shelter.” Once the staff had dropped of the packs at Cornerstone homeless shelter they were extremely thankful for all the hard work the young people had do “It’s amazing to know that young people think about what is happening outside of schools and in the local area for the homeless and I’m so happy to have their support please send them all our thanks from the team at Cornerstone.”

We worked with an already formed group of 6 young people in Middlesbrough over 5 weeks developing an idea of what they would like to campaign about. The group expressed how they wanted to help dog shelters because people “get dogs for christmas then by March they are wanting to get rid of them because they are bored or have realised they are a lot of work”. The young people decided they want to donate items to help out Maxi’s Mates Rescue and Rehoming Centre which is a charity located in Dunsdale as the centre had been expressing on facebook that they are now at full capacity with dogs and they are struggling to feed and home them all. The young people designed a poster which states statistics of dogs that are in shelters, and they added quotes like “save a life, adopt a shelter dog today”. The young people wanted to make the poster really powerful and have people think about the issue. The poster has been shared across our social media and has been put in shop windows to help widen the campaign and spread awareness. We then decided what we wanted to donate to the shelter, this included; dog food, toys, lots of treats, tennis balls and much more. When we went to the shelter to donate the items, the staff were very thankful and said “I am so happy that young people are wanting to make a difference to the lives of the sheltered dogs and young people are aware of the issues happening with people buying dogs and getting bored of them”.

15 young people took part in 5 sessions based around social action activities; what social action means, who it involves, how important the young peoples’ voice is, different forms of communication and deciding on what social action project they would like to deliver out of the 4 projects suggested. They also took part in ice breakers, fun activities, and enjoyed healthy snacks. The young people decided that they would like to spread some joy over the Christmas period and that they would like to make those people accessing food banks over the period smile, and to know others are thinking of them. The young people went away and designed their own Christmas card to enter into a competition and selected an independent judge would pick the winner. The winning card would then be printed by a local printing firm. As well as the card, they also wanted to make hot chocolate hampers to give to out at the local foodbank - overall, 50 gifts bags where made. The young people priced and bought all needed for the project and spend their budget very wisely. The Christmas card competition was very successful; 10 young people entered and one card was chosen to be printed. All young people took part in making the hot chocolate hampers in a production line, which took over two sessions. Once the card was back from the printers the young people decided on which food bank they would like to send their gifts too. The young people decided to drop their gifts off at the Local Leisure centre which was a donation point for the whole of Gateshead, as the young people decided it was better that all of Gateshead have the chance to get their gifts if possible. “My sister sometimes accesses a food bank and she would love this little gift”.

Cumberland Lodge an education charity contacted NE Youth at the beginning of 2024 regarding workshops they would like to deliver to young people around the importance of democracy and what democracy is. NE Youth organised 2 separate workshops, one in Sunderland and the other in Gateshead. Over 20 young people took part from a wide range of back grounds and political views. The workshops were facilitated by the staff at Cumberland Lodge with support from youth workers from NE Youth, Youth Focus NE, The Activity Den and The Dunston Drop in. After the workshops all the young people where offered the chance to attend a 3-day residential in London to discuss and learn more about Democracy. To make the selection fair all young people interested in the residential were asked to put a small piece of work together, spoken word, art, written word on why they would like the opportunity to take part in this amazing opportunity. The work was selected by an independent judge and the 4 young people chosen where informed and the next step of the programme was discussed. The young people chosen where invited to attend online chats and educational sessions with the Cumberland Lodge, where digital exclusion was an issue due to lack of data and internet the young people came into the NE Youth base to use computers and mobile devices. When then met up on a regular basis to discuss the residential and discuss issues they wanted to chat about, so they felt confident in their own knowledge before the residential and meeting others. 3 young people attended a three-day residential in Windsor representing the young people of the northeast. They attended the residential with groups from Belfast, Liverpool, London, Birmingham, Cornwell and Scotland and took part in three days of seminars, workshops and activities. Young people learned and practiced skills such as, listening to other people's views and opinion, challenging calmly, thinking about the audience in a discussion and using appropriate words and context and the importance of telling a story. The young people also learned about what's fake news and maybe what's just misleading news, they discussed politics especially the recent election in America and through about both sides of the argument. They final task was to come up with a social action close to their hearts and present their ideas to the rest of the group, using their above learning. The young people came up with an amazing idea around education for local young people around homelessness and what young people really need to know. From this the young people want this social action to happen and have asked me to speak to the SMT at NE Youth for advice around funding opportunities going forward. “First time out of my local area and first time on train and I am glad I did it with you guys, I have learned so much “ - Stephen aged 20

Ages: 14-15 years. Year 10 students. Location: George Stephenson School and Rowan Court Independent Living Accommodation Situation: Mrs Smith contacted me for information on Junior Campaigners and Healing hearts and Minds programmes. She has heard about the programmes from other professionals and invited Holly and myself into into the school to discuss both programmes. Task: 4 weeks Junior campaigners social action programme, delivered in the school. After the programme was delivered the young people came up with their own social action programme that would benefit others living in the local community. Action: Young people came up the idea of offer a games morning for the local older residents living in an Independent living accommodation 5 minutes’ walk along from the young people school. The young people made lists of what was needed for the game’s morning, we supported them with a risk assessment and the information needed to contact the accommodation to make contact. Results: 23 young people delivered a fun morning of games and bingo with hot beverages and snacks. The young people have made a great impression on the staff and the residents, the residents had a brilliant morning and has asked for the young people to do the session again. “This is amazing, we never get anyone to come into the recreational area(!!), to have young people in the room is lovely. The food is lovely and fresh, and the games have been great!”

Whilst in North Ormesby Youth Club, 8 young people engaged throughout the 7 weeks of this junior campaigner’s project. The first few weeks of the project, I was introducing myself and the project with the young people and finding out what they were passionate about helping to change in their local area. The young people were torn between helping people with mental health issues and creating wellbeing packs for them but not knowing where to give them to, and they were wanting to help people who are homeless, creating packs for them and donating them to a homeless shelter in Middlesbrough town. The young people then decided their passion was to help the homeless and we thought about what we would like do to do tackle this. Over the next week we designed a poster which would be put around Middlesbrough and North Ormesby and got this to the standard we would like it, on this week also we created a list of the things we would like to put in the packs for the homeless. The young people decided they wanted, hand warmers, gloves, socks, blankets, toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, wipes and a refillable water bottle, lots of tinned food and sanitary items. The week after this we put all of the packs together and worked as a team to get 20 packs completed and made up ready for them to be delivered. Staff members went to Doorways in Middlesbrough town centre which is a homeless shelter, and delivered these packs and gave them some posters so that they could also advertise themselves.

We recruited 5 young people from the Redcar area who were interested in becoming young inspectors. All 5 of the young people met up with some Middlesbrough young people and…