Know Your Place is a five-year, youth-led research programme focussed on giving young people the platform, tools and power to create meaningful change in their communities.
It is a collaboration between the Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services (SCVYS), Staffordshire County Council, University of Staffordshire and the Young People’s Steering Group (YPSG).
Made up of 13 to 25-year-olds from across Staffordshire, the YPSG is the driving force behind Know Your Place. The young people involved have been trained as community researchers and will use Participatory Action Research (PAR) creative methods – such as photography, poetry, digital media, and sport – to explore the issues that matter most to them.
YPSG members were recently joined by policymakers, researchers and community organisations at the Know Your Place Festival where they shared their aims for the project.
Grace Lee, 16, from Stafford, said: “I have such a big passion for change. I want to grow up in a world that's different and to be happy in the world that I live in. So, I'm really hoping that by doing this, I will see that change.
“It’s been amazing to meet so many different people and to get to know each other, to get to know where we come from, and to represent each area that we come from.”
George Ellis, 17, from Stafford, added: “I think a lot of young people view world as being created by adults for adults. Staffordshire needs to work for adults, but it also needs young people to say what they think as well. So that it can work for everybody.
“I think it's great when young people are asked what they think. It's good to know that you're surrounded by people who want to make a difference and agree with you about how Staffordshire should be.”
The Know Your Place Festival, held at University of Staffordshire, celebrated highlights from the first year of the project and shared exciting plans for its future.
The group will be working over the next few months to co-create a community research app where young people from across the county can contribute their ideas and opinions on issues in the county. They will continue to support and steer the project as it moves into its second year of activity
Ten Innovator Organisations, which successfully bid for a £5,000 grant from the Know Your Place project, have also been announced. These youth organisations from across Staffordshire will lead a creative consultation and a social action project with young people in their district – which could range from a community garden to a mental health awareness campaign.
The key is that the project is youth-powered, evidence-based, and rooted in what young people have said they care about. The Innovator Organisations are:
- Biddulph Town Council – Staffordshire Moorlands
- BLAST – Lichfield
- Breathing Space – South Staffordshire
- Burton Youth for Christ – East Staffordshire
- Crystal Academy – Cannock Chase
- Liberty Jamboree – Lichfield
- Re-Solv – Stafford
- Tamworth Boxing Club - Tamworth
- Virtual School and Voice Project – Countywide
- Vysions Youth Services– Cannock Chase
Ryan Fox, the project lead at University of Staffordshire, said: “Know Your Place is not just asking young people what they think – we’re working with them to enact positive change in their communities.
“We’re about to enter another exciting year for the project. Now, we have the Innovator Organisations in place and they’re beginning to conduct research in their places. At the beginning of next year, we’ll have the first insights from the innovator projects, which will tell us what is important to young people in districts across the county.”
If you are a young person living or studying in a Staffordshire Local Authority area, find more information about the project and how to get involved on the Know Your Place website.