A youth board meeting

Last night I attended the Peabody Youth Board meeting. There is no budget for pizza.  We waited around for about 30 minutes before anyone turned up and there were several last minute apologies.  I don’t understand why there isn’t any money for pizza.  We have to bribe our older residents to attend meetings with meals, taxis, wine etc.

I was there ostensibly as part of the youth team drive to get representation of young people on our management committees. Now I can’t speak for all management committees and I think there are a couple that have young people, but most are my age or older and other than their grandchildren have given up on young people altogether.  ‘We tried, but they weren’t interested’ seems to be the mantra.  Sometimes a younger person in their 30s/40s appears, lasts a few meetings and then disappears.

My suggestion was, that in the centres where we have no management committee at all, that we have one made up completely of young people.

 

Anyway, I fully enjoyed my evening. I learnt so much and I was so engaged and inspired.  The three young women who did attend were amazing and had such interesting stories to tell.  There was a statuesque Black girl who had spent a year at Marks and Spencers on £3.50 an hour to get her level 3 in retail management and had just been one of 20 finalists in London Fashion Week who had entered a free competition to showcase her own dress design to a brief.  Another Asian girl enlightened me about stop and search.  What planet am I now living on that I don’t realise the police stop and search 16 year old covered girls these days?

 

But the topic of the night belongs to Instagram. I now realise that every young person who wants their issues reflected back at them in funny and thought provoking ways likes imjustbait who looks very ordinary and about 17.

 

The challenge for Peabody is that if they want to engage young people they have to get an Instagram account, but at the moment they won’t, can’t, are afraid to – whatever. Awesome Ms aged 14 is going to tell Sir Bob (Kerslake) when she meets him next week.