CREATE REAL CHANGE

As a first step the Hope Collective came together from organisations and individuals who had worked with Commission who wanted to continue the work to change society for the better, with the first steps undertaken to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy of Damilola Taylor who died in Peckham South London on November 27th 2000. 

The community-based activity to mark this occasion across the UK,  and a subsequent campaign driven by young people, resulted in Damilola’s birthday being designated the National Day of Hope in perpetuity by the Prime Minister in 2021.

Ten year old Damilola had written about his hope to change the world in his last school essay. The theme of Hope informed the title of our Collective and the work we do ever since.

The Hope Collective is an open movement supported by young people, social activists, youth and cultural organisations, businesses and brands and strategic partners that work to capacity build, listen and work with young people to inform system and policy change on a local, regional and national level – building solution based pathways to tackle societal issues through experience and learning.

The direction and content of our work is driven by a strategic development board working hand in hand with a Youth Management Group to ensure action and advocacy is driven from the grassroots up.

At the core of our work since 2021 has been the development of Hope Hacks – consultation and learning events that are planned and driven by young people talking directly to decision makers and influencers across a range of topics identified in each location. 

The impact of the Hope Hacks shines through at each and every event when young people present their ideas for what they think a fairer society could look like. A fairer society would be a safer society as young people regularly remind us !

Throughout our journey we have continued to work with young people in areas where resources and opportunities are less available, and we work especially closely with the VRU networks to ensure we reflect both young people as participants in creating solutions and a platform where decision makers can talk directly to their communities.

Since 2021 we have adopted an ambition to strive for a society where not a single young person gets left behind due the restraints of poverty and inequalities. 

Our pilot project "Changed the conversation",  and our mission now is to strive for the fairer society young people are demanding.