Last week we ran our Youth Alliance Celebration and Shaping the future event in Harrisons Hub at Pride Park Stadium.
We enjoyed an assortment of refreshments and breakfast treats before kick-starting the day!
Helen Britten from Community Action Derby started the morning by overviewing the history of Derby Youth Alliance and it's success over the last 4 years.
Tracy Harrison from Safe and Sound supported in sharing her experiences of the Youth Alliance and the ways it has supported the ways in which Safe and Sound works, highlighting the importance of our partnership working.
Helen then went onto delivering an activity for the group identify priority areas in which should be focussed on for our young people. The findings showed that the majority of our attendees considered mental health to be the biggest priority/issue.
Our tables engaged in active conversations about their ideas and this gave an opportunity for our attendees to get to know each other and network! Thank you to Derby College students for getting involved in collecting these responses!
Members of staff from the Derby Youth Alliance Strategic Group organisations took part in presenting about Referrals, Inspire and Innovate projects, the Youth Alliance Children and Young People Network, School events, Mentor training, Youth Voice/Surveys, CANVAS project, culturally specific support, Partner projects, and then finally Elite transition projects (primary and secondary transition).
Anna Malik from Freedom Foundation shared her experiences of the ripple effect of Derby Youth Alliance and the many ways it has supported in expanding their services.
We then heard from Rebecca Perkins from Derby Moor Spencer Academy about the support Derby Youth Alliance has provided to their students and the success it has created.
Helen introduced the new Youth Alliance structure for 2025 and beyond and what to expect because of these changes for our existing stakeholders.
We had available a JENGA Activity, to demonstrate the idea if you remove pieces that represent areas of Youth Alliance work and projects it will collapse, resulting in young people losing our support.
Helen rounded up the event with the Youth Alliance’s next steps and the need for support for us to continue doing what we do in supporting young people across Derby. To establish what support was already in the room, we handed out cards for attendees to state what support they can offer, whether this was in the form of resources, facilities, educational support, employment opportunities, life experiences, not necessarily through direct funding. We wanted the take-away message to focus on how everyone has something beneficial to offer and the impact it could have moving forward.
We also had the pleasure of Liz Fothergill - the Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire - attending our event and in expressing her gratitude for the Youth Alliance and the work we have achieved!
To finalise the event we all got the opportunity to take photos outside by the football pitch - many thanks to David Goulding at Derby County Community Trust for organising this!
It was a successful and enjoyable morning so thank you to everyone who made it possible and for the 40+ attendees who joined us in celebrating the success of Derby Youth Alliance success over the last 4 years! We look forward to what 2025 has in-store!
Author: Rebecca Middleton, University of Derby student
