Lambeth Youth Mayor’s boost for fellow teens

Big decisions: Lambeth Youth Mayor Samuel Davies

Projects helping young people build new skills, find new opportunities and improve their relationships with older people have received a boost from Lambeth’s Youth Mayor Fund.

Lambeth Youth Mayor Samuel Davies and the Youth Advisory Panel have chosen six projects in the borough to receive a share of £25,000 in council funding.

The Youth Mayor, is supported by the Youth Advisory Panel, made up of a dozen 11- to 19-year-old years who live, work or study in Lambeth.  The advisory group meets fortnightly at Lambeth town hall in Brixton.

Samuel, 16, who attends The Norwood School and lives in Kennington, said: “The selection process was difficult, there were 31 applications for support and some fantastic project ideas.

“But in the end we were able to choose the projects that we felt would most benefit young people in the borough and I’m looking forward to seeing the outcomes.”

Brixton based Photofusion’s Intergenerational Project will get £2,400 towards a project that brings young people and pensioners together for photography lessons and will feature an exhibition of their work for residents.

The youth led groups to benefit also include Iconic Steps Film Academy at the British Film Institute on the South Bank which will get £5,000. Iconic Steps will run film making workshops and support for young people from Lambeth interested in film industry careers.

Cllr Rachel Heywood, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, said: “I congratulate Samuel and the panel for the hard work they put into making these selections. It’s great that youth led projects will now get this funding and be able to boost the skills of young people in the borough.”

The funding decision was taken on October 10 and the money is currently being distributed to the groups.

The remaining recipients are:

The Gifted in Brixton who will receive £4,200 to support a group of young people in developing an interactive website that aims to break down barriers and challenge negative perceptions of young people in Lambeth through positive images and podcasts.

Following the success of their tournaments in surrounding boroughs, B2B Young Ballers in Lambeth North will get £3,065 to offer a free local basketball tournament will be offered to young people in Lambeth.  It is aimed at girls and boys of mixed abilities, with a focus on improving their skills and techniques in basketball.

Grooveschool in Streatham will get £5,000 to deliver a programme of mobile DJ-ing and music technology workshops across the borough.

Building on the success of their summer pilot project, the Tashani Phillips Youth Cafe in West Norwood will get £4,000 for its cafe project which will be run by young people for young people and will provide opportunities to learn new skills in catering and running a social enterprise.