How Young Citizens Started Two years ago, six Year 7 pupils wanted to become more involved in their community. They were upset with the problems and violence they experienced in their lives and wanted to do something to make a difference. They established the Young Citizens Project.
Young Citizens seeks to find ways to allow young people in Primary and Secondary schools to express their hopes and fears, to enable them to meet with people in the community who can help them, and to find ways that these young people, individuals and organisations can work together to improve the community and the lives of those within it. A primary focus of the Young Citizens is community safety. The Young Citizens project has brought together children, businesses, Councillors, Local Council Officials, Mayors, MP’s, Lewisham MET, churches, temples, mosques and community groups. Together they have developed six very active campaigns, bringing community led change to Lewisham. There are now over 200 Young Citizens at our school. Young Citizens teams regularly travel to Lewisham primary schools to listen to and work with the younger children. Young Citizens helped secure £23,000 for youth provision in the Crofton park ward, helped open a local Youth Club, and are helping bring the City Safe Haven Campaign to Lewisham. A video about how the Young Citizens started can be viewed here : http://bit.ly/youngCitizens |
How we work The Young Citizens now regularly work and meet with our local councillors, MPs, Mayor's, Police, London Citizens, The Jimmy Mizen Foundation and other schools in Lewisham and London.
The Young Citizens meet in the morning (often before 7.30) and after school, they attend events all over Lewisham and London, often working in the evenings, weekends and holidays. A very large part of the community work they do is in their own time. Through their work and campaigns the children have received the support and won funding from the local council. The young people have become a powerful and positive force in their community, their voice is heard, their hopes are becoming realities, and their community is becoming safer. The Young Citizens project has given our whole school the belief that anything is possible. |
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