EFL Trust Supports Growing And Groundbreaking Youth Voice Programme
The EFL Trust – along with four EFL Club Community Organisations – are empowering youth voice in several communities via a pioneering programme.
The charitable arm of the EFL is partnering with the Youth Endowment Fund, the #iwill Fund (a joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and the Co-op group to deliver regionally a 12.7million programme called The Peer Action Collective.
Bradford City FC Community Foundation and The Tigers Trust (Hull City AFC’s official charity) will deliver the programme within the Yorkshire and Humber region.
In addition, The Robins Foundation (Bristol City FC’s official charity) and Exeter City Community Trust will deliver PAC in the south west region of England, all giving young people the chance to make their communities safer, fairer places to live.
Dominik Stingas-Paczko, Head of Participation and Community Engagement at the EFL Trust, said: “We’re delighted to be chosen as a regional partner again and support our network of Club Community Organisations in delivering this ground-breaking youth voice programme.
“Over the past two years, more than a thousand young people in Yorkshire were engaged with as part of the Peer Action Collective work, driven by young people at the forefront and Club Community Organisations using the power of the Club badge.
“We’re very much looking forward to being part of the next leg of the Peer Action Collective’s journey – now supporting Yorkshire and the south west of England – in providing a platform for the vital views of young people to make positive change in their communities.”
Since the launch in 2021, PAC has seen over 6,800 young people across the country taking on the issues affecting their local communities and creating solutions. Over the next five years PAC will impact the lives of over 11,000 young people in England and Wales through peer research and social action.
PAC is a ground-breaking network of Peer Researchers, Social Action Leads and Changemakers.
Young people with lived experience of violence find out what needs to happen to make their area a better place to live and turn it into action. From influencing school practises, to improving local mental health services, co-producing violence reduction strategies or supporting more young people into employment – together, they are ensuring that young voices respond to issues that directly affect them.
In Yorkshire, young people provided their voice to a wide range of concerns to them, including Peer Researchers spearheading group sessions at Wetherby Young Offenders Institute where they acquired the views of a group of convicted young people as well as providing them with football enrichment.
Youngsters also attended the Houses of Parliament, speaking to MPs, about their experience, the programme and findings from young people, and even met with Bradford City manager Mark Hughes during EFL’s Week of Action where they had asked him press conference-style questions and informed him about the differences made in city.
Helen Goulden OBE, Chief Executive of The Young Foundation added: “The Peer Action Collective’s youth-led approach has already shown huge potential to reduce experiences of violence and shape a fairer future. As we launch into a five-year programme, I am genuinely excited about what might be achieved and the power of younger people to effect the change they want to see in the world around them.”
To find out more about the project, visit the Youth Endowment Fund’s website. To find out more about Co-op’s work with young people, please visit coop.co.uk/gamechangers
