Empowering Manchester’s Youth in Mental Health Funding Design

A priority of Young Manchester’s is to ensure young people’s involvement and leadership within this project. This includes everything from where the grants are distributed to the design of the fund and what aims the design should meet - prioritizing young people’s interests, encouraging inclusivity.

Taking a Youth-Led approach to this project empowers young people and ensures their voices and decisions are heard, valued and have an influence on grant making and the Mental Health and Wellbeing funding design. This enables the funding design to address all the needs and priorities of our young people within Manchester through its aims.

Suggestions have been made to how young people from 42nd Street can be involved in this project's funding design for Mental Health and Wellbeing after Covid-19. Young people can be involved within design sessions where they explore the aims of the funding and share their own experiences to ensure young people’s own personal experiences, that help to reflect the wider younger population of Manchester, are prioritized and achieved within aims.

Opportunities for young people are also available, through joining the Young Manchester ambassador's programme, where they can be empowered through more youth voice opportunities, achieving personal development and social action skills development.

We spoke to Liv, our Project Coordinator, in Young Manchester about why they believe it's important that young people are involved within the youth-led funding design.

Why do you feel it’s important that young people are involved in decision making and the youth led funding design?

I think it’s important that young people are involved in decision making and youth led fund design because young people’s voices matter and can’t be ignored - In this society we have an unspoken idea that young people can’t have a say in decision making until they are of voting age and that shouldn't be the case at all. Young people’s lives are impacted by decision making therefore they should have a seat at the table and have the opportunity to shape where and how money for young people is spent.

How do you believe involving young people in the youth led designs will make young people feel?

I believe and have heard from young people that I have worked with, that it makes them feel empowered and that they are trusted to make big decisions that will positively impact their communities. I also feel like young people feel a sense of ownership over what is happening within their city, as they’re involved throughout the whole process - from the design to the decision making at the end. Young people also feel a sense of unity, as they work in collaboration with adults to produce the final product.

Do you have any suggestions on how you think young people could be more involved in the youth-led funding design?

I think if young people came up with the theme of the fund. For example, at the moment we as an organization have the theme ready and the young people go from there. It would be nice if the young people got to choose what they wanted the fund to focus on and design it from the initial thought / idea. It may also be nice for the young people to support with the comms and promotion of the fund - as we often say it’s ‘youth-led’ rather than showing the young people that were involved.

It is clear that young people having a seat at the decision-making tables is important, ensuring young people have a say in their future and have the opportunity to make impactful changes within their communities.

This blog was written by Lauren Tomkinson, a first year Psychology and Counselling student from Manchester Metropolitan University, during her 6 week placement with us.