Young people to have voice heard at Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit ‘Hope Hack’ event

Young people from across Greater Manchester are set to share their views, thoughts, and ideas on how to make the city region a safer and fairer place for all.

On Friday 14 October, Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit and local partners are hosting a series of workshops covering topics like education, social media, and mental and physical health, allowing young people to present solutions.

Held at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, over 100 young people aged 13-21 and from a range of backgrounds, will attend from schools, colleges, Pupil Referral Units, and youth work organisations from across Greater Manchester.

Thoughts and ideas will be shared with a panel of leaders and activists including the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, Deputy Mayor Bev Hughes, Paul Canoville Chelsea’s first black footballer and an ambassador for championing the potential of young people, Patrick Hutchinson who became a defining image of Black Lives Matter when he stepped in to save a counter-protester, Alison Cope mother of Joshua Ribera who was murdered in 2013, and Yahye Abdi from the Hope Collective Youth Management Group.

The views collected from young people at Hope Hack events across the country, will go on to form the basis of a new report, “Reimagined”, produced by the Hope Collective. It will be presented to political parties for consideration as they produce their manifestoes ahead of the next General Election. This ground-breaking report will outline what young people would like to see happen to make the UK a better place to live and grow up in.

A number of partners will contribute to the event including Oasis, StreetGames, Greater Manchester Youth Combined Authority, Programme Challenger, Breaking Barriers, 84YOUTH, Lads Like Us, 42^nd Street, Hitch Marketing, Rio Ferdinand Foundation, EY3 Media, Manchester’s Got Talent Youth, KYSO, Media Cubs, Greater Manchester Police, North West Ambulance Service, and Tesco.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

“We’re really proud to be hosting a Hope Hack here in Greater Manchester. It’s crucial that young people have a voice and that we, as decision-makers, listen to them.

“This event is a great way for us to understand the challenges young people face, and for them to work with us to discover how we can make the changes needed to reduce inequalities and create opportunities for all from an early age.

“Each young person taking part has valuable insight into how we can make Greater Manchester, and the UK, a fairer and safer place, and I am thankful that by working with the Hope Collective we have been able to provide a platform for young people.”

Bev Hughes, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

“The Violence Reduction Unit works closely with young people from across Greater Manchester to understand their hopes for the future.

“The Hope Hack event provides an opportunity for young people’s voices to be fed into a national report which will go directly to political parties ahead of the next General Election.

“We know that young people often have the answers to solve the issues that affect them, and it is vitally important we provide them with an opportunity to be heard.”

Patrick Hutchinson, Co-founder/Director of UTCAI & author of ‘Everyone versus Racism’, said:

“Empowering young people so that their voices are amplified is my MO’ so when invited to be part of the Hope Collective I was chomping at the bit.

“As we travel around the country delivering Hope Hacks, we are amassing invaluable content from the next generation. We have some of the brightest young minds leading this initiative creating frameworks that will up-skill and support some of the most vulnerable in our society. I feel this is so needed especially during these trying times we find ourselves in.

“I try to mentor some of these amazing young people by sharing my lived experience with them. It’s been an incredible journey and the Hope Collective has put together an indomitable team which has given me the opportunity to work closely with the likes of the inspirational Chelsea legend Mr Paul Canoville.”

The Prospect Panther, Co-chair Hope Collective Youth Management Group, said:

“The dedication and commitment to this project by leaders, grassroots, and national organisations, to facilitate a space where young people of different communities can come together under one roof as the same team and talk solutions to how we can make where we live a fairer place for us, is exactly why the Hope Collective will solve poverty and inequality and reconcile broken relationships. It will take time. But it is also time that we have dedicated to this project. We are Hopeful Not Hopeless.”

The Hope Collective is a grass roots organisation which was formed in partnership with the Damilola Taylor Trust and a wide range of other public and voluntary bodies and works to create real change for young people and communities across the UK. Over the last year, the Hope Collective have been running a series of Hope Hack events across the UK to gather the views of thousands of young people.