This Community Centre Week (20-26 July), we’re sharing this article written by Clare Farrell who reflects on her experience attending a Youth Assembly in Islington, where young people led the conversation about the issues affecting their lives. One of the key partners behind the Assembly was Ambitious Academy, a local community interest company (CIC) supported by Islington Giving. Below is an excerpt from Clare’s original article, first published on Substack.
I’ve just been to the most fantastic “upside down” Youth Assembly.
I walked into a room full of young people at a place called The Hub, part of the Arsenal Football Stadium complex, all super excited about the idea of hosting themselves and the wider community to think through what could be done to support young people in their area.
It was organised in collaboration with Humanity Project via our partners Octopus Communities, who are a collective of independently run community centres in Islington working to strengthen their neighbourhoods.
One of the key partners and hosts of the Youth Assembly was the project Ambitious Academy, a local CIC set up by a brilliant guy called Shawdon Smith, which he set up after university so he could go back to the estate where he grew up and give support to other creative, ambitious young people. His mission is to encourage them to find their full potential, and particularly to forge creative career paths and develop the skills that they would need to be able to do that.
The Youth Assembly was not only about that, but modelled it – which to me is why it was so fantastic.
“One of the key partners and hosts of the Youth Assembly was the project Ambitious Academy, a local CIC set up by a brilliant guy called Shawdon Smith, which he set up after university so he could go back to the estate where he grew up and give support to other creative, ambitious young people.”
Start with the love!
The process was all built around a film that had been produced by the young people themselves, in a project designed to bring together young people in an assembly from a single estate in Islington. The estate is a notoriously tough place to live, where youth violence is a serious concern.
The film is being released on 19th June, and you’re all invited to the launch (address is at bottom).
“There isn’t much space for joy, positivity and love in the community when you start with the problems. That’s why the film did such a good job opening the event.”
We were invited by Rosie from Octopus Communities to take a seat and watch the film. Attendees in the room included people from the council, people from youth services, local cafe owners, and even a couple of police officers.
The film centered on what makes the young people from the estate feel safe and what they love about the place where they live. Of course, it’s ideal to start in a place of positivity, but so often, as was noted in the conversation that followed, a lot of processes like this start with brutal checking in on the realities of the problems people face. There isn’t much space for joy, positivity and love in the community when you start with the problems. That’s why the film did such a good job opening the event.
It was so wonderful watching the young people speak about how much love they had for the project and for each other. The film really captured them finding their voices and their confidence, and how much helping each other to express themselves in this way was really the development of them as individuals as well as the community.
Community centres really matter
The venue we were in, The Hub, is like a community center that belongs to a football club. It was quite interesting walking into such a corporate space to find that there’s all this resource and support to help the people from the local estates. There were obviously a lot of people working in that centre to promote sport and support youth to develop confidence and skills, not just in sport, but also beyond.
There was a mixed bag of attendees from different organizations and backgrounds who came to take part in the conversation. And they knew that their conversation was being facilitated by the young people they were there to support.
Launch of the Film: Collective Acting Studio, at Hornsey Road Baths, 2 Tillman Place, N7 7EE on Friday 19th June, 6 – 9pm. RSVP to info@octopuscommunities.org.uk.
