Inspiring Always - an end of year review

 

Another year at InspireChilli

'Despite all the computations, you can still dance with Inspirechilli's station'

 

2021 started on a high in my new role as chair of the extraordinary We Belong. Over 2021, this award-winning youth-led-and-run charity has achieved many successes including expansion of its work into Manchester, reaching new audiences through a Panorama documentary, and a historic commitment from the Home Office to half the 10 year route to settlement for eligible young people from migrant backgrounds. I have also served as a trustee for Sounddelivery media in its first year as a charity and was delighted to assist in the shortlisting of applicants for its brilliant Spokesperson Network programme.

 

Celebrating the 10^th anniversary of Advantaged Thinking was a major personal highlight for me - https://inspirechilli.blogspot.com/2021/05/advantagedthinking10-5-takeaways.html

 An online event held with the Foyer Federation and Your Housing Group attracted over 100 participants from around the world, with an extra-special t-shirt to mark the occasion designed by Ranae Kiara from InspireChilli’s Team Young People. Alongside this, I generated new writing to draw together all the learning from Advantaged Thinking into an exciting publication with Foyer Federation and Your Housing Group to be published in the new year - watch out!

 

I worked alongside a dream team of academics Sean Creaney and Samantha Burns to produce, with Peer Power Youth and their team of Peer Experts, the excellent ‘Co-creation and participation in the youth justice system’ report  https://www.peerpower.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Long-Report-YJB-Design-by-Lizzie-Reid-final-1.pdf, including my section on ‘Strengths not offence: taking a strengths-based approach in YJS’.

 

I produced an ambassador manual for Clarion Futures, offering various practice insights to support young people to make a transition from a volunteer into a sessional worker or employee.  In a year of resource development, I also played a key role to support the development of Homeless Link’s Being Strengths Based Toolkit and stimulating Community of Practice sessions https://www.homeless.org.uk/being-strengths-based-collected-resources

 

Overseas, I completed the first round of re-accreditations using the new Foyer Accreditation Framework I designed with the Foyer Foundation in Australia (https://foyer.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AFFAF-2020-v2.pdf)  including a successful programme to train and support the Foyer Foundation’s first assessors. Australian Foyers continue to lead the way in developing an innovative offer for young people, and the new accreditation system allows a stronger focus on meeting expectations for young people, including those from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.  I was particularly delighted to see how the new system made it easier to include young people representatives on the Accreditation Panel for the first time, an important step forwards.

 

Staying on an international theme, I delivered a keynote speech on my Advantaged Thinking journey for this year’s World Teacher Day event in Victoria, Australia; and I appeared alongside Sean Creaney and Peer Power experts to share findings from our youth justice work (see above) at this year’s World Congress on Justice with Children in November.

 

Working with youth-led States of Mind, I produced an evaluation report for the impactful Connecting Minds mental wellbeing programme (https://inspirechilli.blogspot.com/2021/03/connecting-minds-learning-report.html) securing investment from the National Lottery Community Fund to scale up this excellent initiative to more young people and staff across Foyers in England over 2021-22. 

 

I continued to support Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Blagrave Trust with the progress of the innovative Opportunity Fund, capturing learning from the first cohort of young leaders completing the programme this year, with some outstanding achievements from individual entrepreneurs and campaigners supported by the work of Launch It and Peer Power.  On the same theme of youth leadership, I also developed an effective new model for supporting youth involvement strategies which I have shared with organisations working with me as a consultant on youth governance and involvement approaches, one of my favourite topics. 

I operated as a critical friend for Dublin’s Northside Partnership to accelerate their impressive leadership journey with Advantaged Thinking, including mentoring for internal champions and training sessions with partners.  In the vein of friendship, I have continued to serve as a lead partner for Foyer Federation, supporting its important work to deliver on the Home for Advantaged Thinking Strategy (https://www.foyer.net/homeforadvantagedthinking)

 

A year wouldn’t be the same without being part of the organising team for another 'Room for Young People' event with partners LiveWest, Clarion Housing Group, Foyer Federation and the Housing Association Youth Network, overseeing the judging of Inspiration Award entries through inspirechilli’s Team Young People to showcase another amazing range of stories from young people and staff demonstrating resilience and commitment across the youth housing sector (https://inspirechilli.blogspot.com/2021/11/make-more-room-for-young-people.html).  I was also proud to attend the event alongside Ranae Kiara, who designed the winners’ certificate and tshirts in her usual cool style, marking what proved to be the most youth-led event yet.

 

As the year closes, I’m looking forward to future opportunities over 2022, including:

 

-       Further progress with We Belong’s community organising and policy influence work

 

-       The potential development of a new housing and support model that frees young people to explore work options without the usual restrictions from high rents; and work to support the development of a new Foyer model in Hong Kong.

 

-       Critical Friendships with charities looking for expertise to guide their work

 

-       New writing to explore the topic of ‘authenticity’ through some radical thinking 

 

-       Offering training sessions and resource tools to accelerate asset-based approaches

 

-       Opportunities to benchmark performance between youth provision in the UK and Australia through my involvement in both sets of Foyer Accreditation programmes

 

-       Potential innovations with Foyer Federation from the launch of our new Advantaged Thinking publication, to hopefully turn some of the concepts introduced in its chapters into new programmes and approaches

 

-       Further evaluation and learning work, including a report for Connecting Minds and other exciting new programmes currently in development

 

-       Like everyone else, more chances to connect in person with missed friends and contacts both in the UK and overseas – including my own Team Young People

-       All the exciting unknowns that I leave space to explore each year… which could include you? Do get in touch with me at hello@inspirechilli.com with any new year inspirations : )

Make More room for Young People

 

This week saw the 4^th annual Room for Young People Inspiration Awards, a showcase for inspiration from young people and staff in the youth housing sector. The event is run as a collaboration between LiveWest, the Foyer Federation, Clarion Futures, the Housing Association Youth Network, and the smallest fish in the partner pool, InspireChilli. What made this year’s event the best yet was the degree to which young people were leading proceedings – from the choice of award topics, to the award judges, to the design and organisation of the event and the team of Molly, Jess, Jonas and Uche who kept us brilliantly entertained throughout.  As a ‘room for young people’, it proved to be an inclusive, welcoming and supportive space, with phenomenal stories of impact.  

 

The 18 winning nominations for the Inspiration Awards this year had 5 characteristics:

 

·      83% were from Foyer services 

 

·      66% were focused on people progressing education and employment outcomes

 

·      61% were people using skills and experiences to benefit others in their community

 

·      A third had overcome mental health challenges, showing tremendous resilience

 

·      All evidenced a determination and passion to achieve.

 

As InspireChilli’s Team Young People judges shared with me, ‘each example lives up to … the identity of an ‘inspiresider’ – someone or something that brings inspiration to life’.  

From these 18 winners, 6 ‘top champions’ were identified as those who inspired most of all. 

 

These included the following award stories: 

 

Duck to Water Award:   Mitch Snell - Recognised for throwing himself into Foyer life at Torbay, taking part in all its activities, being a valued member of the Foyer’s work with local organisations, giving permission for the Foyer to share his song about the life of his deceased grandfather, and positively progressing career goals, all while showing his supportive nature to other residents.

 

Innovative Action Award: Herts School Outreach – Recognised for their tireless work to establish 4 new innovative projects over the past year: LEGACY, a free football club for children of families on benefit; PHONENIX, a programme helping children and young people to overcome experiences of trauma; OHANAMIND, an online club offering resources for families, carers and schools, to nurture young people’s mental health; and SHIELD, which supports young people at threat from criminal exploitation to lead a healthy life.

 

Superb Staff Award: Karola Hagenstede – Recognised for her outstanding impact on young people’s lives over 12 years at SAHA, always seeing the possibility in young people and striving for the best  – a champion of Advantaged thinking who is tenacious and passionate, reflected in the achievements of former residents she has supported, those who continue to contact her for guidance or to celebrate achievements, and the many successes of Newhaven Foyer which benefit from her work as its Deputy Manager.

 

Community Engagement Award: Starting Point Social group – Recognised for running a social group at YMCA Crewe in partnership with Cheshire East Council care leavers team to address the isolation and challenges experienced by unaccompanied young people seeking asylum, offering a safe space for social connection and fun, alongside weekly football sessions also open to other young people in the area that helps to address any community discrimination through a common love for football while also offering opportunities to invest in valuable life skills.

 

Flying the Nest Young leader Award: Charlotte Staves – Recognised for the inspirational journey she has taken at On Route foyer, initially working on her mental health by attending fitness classes before using her talent for craft making to lead activities for other young people, building her confidence from this to focus on practical goals to pay off former property arrears and secure a Foyer Federation talent bond to buy materials to set up her own future craft making business, for which she is now due to complete her level 2 Maths and English so she can enrol onto a business course at college having successfully moved on from the Foyer.

 

Personal Achievement Award: Ciara Nash – Recognised for the inspirational journey she made from a 16 year-old entering Hendra Lodge Foyer without any support network and limited cooking skills, to progress her mental health and engage with others, showing a natural talent to support young people that led her to undertake Peer Champion Training and become a volunteer youth mentor who now runs a local youth club. All this while attending college and gaining distinctions for her course work to complete a level 3 Forensics and Criminal Investigations qualification.  

 

From the judges’ perspective, the 5 members of InspireChill’s Team Young People all agreed how the nominations have a positive impact on them – that they learn from and are inspired by the people they read about.  This connected with my own reflections with the manager from Redruth Foyer the day after the event: that there is tremendous power for young people to learn from the experiences of their peers.  I certainly enjoyed being able to bring one of my team, Ranae Kaira, to enjoy the event this year, who loved seeing nomination words transformed into real people with smiles, as well as the brilliant designs she has produced for certificates and t-shirts proudly shown off by their winners. Perhaps a future for Room for Young People is to provide more opportunity space for other young people, earlier in their transition, to be part of the celebration each year, so they can take back its inspiration and accelerate their own potential to achieve.  If Room for Young People is the source for positive ripples, let’s make its audience even bigger.

 

#AdvantagedThinking10 - 5 takeaways

 

May 14^th was a day to look back on 10 years of Advantaged Thinking. As I noted in my introductory speech to the event, it was a time to Celebrate achievements, Reflect on learning, Inspire through and be inspired from our personal stories, Share and socialise with others, and Progress a collective vision to help young people achieve Power and Purpose.  While I’m not a regular fan of acronyms, ‘CRISP’ felt a good description of the event’s structure and pace.  Getting more than 100 people from around the world to attend an event on a Friday afternoon showed that the Advantaged Thinking 'crisp' has a popular taste. 

 

For me, there were 5 takeaways from the experience. They capture what I think Advantaged Thinking has taught me most over the years. I might be the founder of the Advantaged Thinking concept, but I’m as humble an apprentice of its asset-based philosophy as anyone else. There is always more to learn. While I can easily think of a 100 takeaways, I recall a past suggestion that had there been just 5 tests they would have been easier to remember on one hand. So, with that in my ever-ageing mind, these are my one-handed insights:

 

1)    It’s international.  Just follow the thread: Foyers originated in France, where the first steps to Advantaged Thinking were also taken in our 2009 writing on Open Talent. The first asset-based programme at Foyer Federation called Working Assets came thanks to a research trip in 2005 exploring asset-based provision in America. Advantaged Thinking was first uttered at a stage in Greece in 2011.  We learned a lot from the capabilities approach and thriving focus on assets in the work of the International Development sector. Some of the most innovative early practice in Advantaged Thinking was developed in Australia, following my 2 week secondment with an organisation in Melbourne, which led to the first Foyers to be designed from an Advantaged Thinking focus – with the latest service opening just this year in Sydney.  As we heard at the May 14^th event, the energy for Advantaged Thinking continues through the inspiring work of Colony 47 in Tasmania and Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) in Melbourne.  Following the return of a staff member from BSL to Ireland, Advantaged Thinking has now started to grow in Dublin, forming an integral part of Northside Partnership’s community work and strategy.  There has also been work in the Netherlands where the impact of Advantaged Thinking has stimulated various initiatives with young people from Utrecht to Groningen. The UK network of Foyers and allies are part of a global family. When travel opens up again, remember to go Advantaged Thinking class to connect with others in solidarity.

 

2)    It’s universal.  Danny Sutton from Colony47 spoke for many when he emphasised that Advantaged Thinking is not just an approach that works for young people, but something that applies to all people. The principles of believing in, investing in, working with and involving people while talking about and understanding them in positive ways applies to any community – and the point of test 7 is to keep challenging the status quo to make that our social norm.  Those organisations like Colony47 working to apply Advantaged Thinking across all their services promote an important truth that Advantaged Thinking in its broadest reference of positive capability should be the optimum condition for all life.

 

3)    It’s ambitious. What shone through in the presentations and conversations at the May 14^th event was the ambition that as people and organisations we have to do more and better – whether that means increasing reach and impact or trialling new innovation.  That passion wasn’t just down to individual practitioners. It was also evident in the language of funders and commissioners, whose experience of Advantaged Thinking and willingness to advocate for its funding was wonderful to hear. Advantaged thinking has always been about removing the bar to aspiration, not just raising it.  We’re all as ambitious for its impact as we are passionate about its cause. Bottling the ambition to share with others is an important part of the Advantaged Thinking campaign.

 

4)    It’s generous. More than anything else, what enabled Advantaged Thinking to reach out to so many people and organisations over the last decade was a generosity of spirit that came directly from Jane Slowey’s leadership, that the Advantaged Thinking IP should be built as an open road for pioneers to drive down rather than a toll-gate baring access.  Our one ask has always been simple: do good with it and remember to bring the good home. Most people have been true to that spirit. One or two organisations ran off to benefit themselves, but the majority have contributed back through the same generosity of spirit that our values-led sector thrives from. For those who keep returning, we salute your authenticity and spirit. 

 

5)    It’s purposeful.  Listening to the wisdom of Sufina Ahmad from John Ellerman Foundation on our funder panel, I was reminded of the importance of how strategy and tactics helps us to sustain good ideas. Advantaged Thinking always needs a clear purpose in mind, but it also depends on the purposeful action of sound leadership to invest in the right things that help to build for the long term.  It’s encouraging to see the Foyer Federation’s new Home for Advantaged Thinking strategy begin to do that. Which takes me to my final insight: Advantaged Thinking for me now is not about the last ten years, but the years that lie ahead.  Its future lies not just in the hearts of those enjoying the event on May 14^th but the hearts outside we are yet to know through new connections and adventures.  Advantaged Thinking will always bring abundance to life. It’s our now and tomorrow. Let’s do it!

       With thanks to Foyer Federation, Your Housing Group, and all the speakers and attendees who made May 14th such a wonderful moment.

Connecting Minds learning report

  

“The ability of young people to identify their own way of improving 

their mental health and wellbeing is key to them having 

a greater understanding of themselves and how they feel”

"Connecting minds is great for young people”

 

Becoming Chair of We Belong

 

Years can feel like mountains to ascend. Maybe that’s an image lingering from my pre-pandemic memories of trekking in Nepal, but whatever its origin, I’m starting 2021 sprinting up fresh slopes after accepting the post of Chair for We Belong. My formal appointment at We Belong's January AGM has made me take stock of where I’ve come from.  Looking back, I’ve appreciated the base camp I had from my time as Director of Innovation at Foyer Federation between 2001-2015, an experience that shaped my character in so many ways that it would be impossible to think of 'being me' without it.  I remember the excitement when I received my invitation to interview with Foyer Federation 20 years ago. It was a ‘connection moment’ – the electricity in the veins when you feel an abiding link between an organisation or person and your authentic self. Since leaving Foyer Federation in 2015, my radar has sought the next relationship to ignite my core being. Now, I’ve met that inspiration again.

 

Supporting a charity like We Belong, founded and led by young people, is hugely significant for me.  I believe 100%+ in young people.  From my time as a successful classroom teacher, to my work at Foyer Federation on the development of the ‘Advantaged Thinking’ approach, belief has been the superpower I’ve sought to cultivate in others. It’s part of the story I shared in my TEDx speech on opening young people’s talents at Thessaloniki in 2011. One of my first actions on establishing Inspirechilli in 2015 was to create a positive space to work with Team Young People, standing up to social inequalities through initiatives including States of Mind, Hustle, Investing in Girls Education in Africa, Keeptlking, as well as the creative insights of Ranae Kaira, Arianna Roberts and Rowan Kassab.  

I realise how important my parents’ belief in me was to my own achievements, which is something I’ve tried to pass on to those I work alongside.  How meaningful it is then to support an organisation like We Belong, whose vision has been built by young people, with a team of young staff and volunteers turning that vision into reality. As their two brilliant founding CEO’s Chrisann Jarrett and Dami Makinde write in the forward to We Belong’s 2020 Impact Report, ‘We are energised by a belief that an empowered youth can contribute to solving the problems in society, and that their activism can change the status quo’. Their passion speaks my heart and mind.

It is a privilege to be part of the UK’s first charity led by and for young migrants.  Overcoming challenges through the transition to adulthood has always inspired my leadership.  In a hostile environment that works against young people who are ‘British in all but paperwork’, those challenges are emotionally and financially multiplied. Just how cruel and unjust that can be is movingly evidenced in We Belong’s 2020 ‘Mental Health Check’ report. Which is why We Belong’s work is so important. More than just its youth-led credentials, We Belong’s identity shines out through a compelling campaign for the rights of young people from migrant backgrounds, who have lived most of their lives in the UK, to access the education and citizenship they are entitled to. I empathise deeply with it, reminding me of what it felt like as a young child labelled as a ‘problem’ in a system that restricted me to remedial classes at school – the same person who would later get a first class honours degree and an MA under the magical tutelage of Lorna Sage.  In many ways, that early childhood trauma is my other base camp. It might be an entirely different experience to the stigmatisation faced by young people caught up in our immigration system, but the emotional cost of feeling a system working against your talent leaves a relatable scar. 

Exploring We Belong’s work has also reminded me of some of the remarkable young people I met in Foyer projects, bravely facing up to blocks in the immigration system that threatened the roof over their heads. While recognising the resilience of the Foyer residents, it was always the injustice of the system that haunted me. We Belong shares similar stories with such a powerful human focus, emphasising the talents in danger of being lost through the young people our immigration system fails to recognise. 

For me, that emphasis on belonging, as something one inherently knows but is forced to wait and pay for, connects with the focus on Advantaged Thinking that I developed with the much missed Jane Slowey. Jane and I passionately believed that there is a fundamental human right for all people to be seen for their abilities and potential, not as deficits to society. As Chrisann asks, ‘How many brilliant young people is society missing out on just because of their immigration status?’ It makes neither moral nor economic sense.  We Belong strives to put humanity and logic into a system that has often lost sight of both. Sir Angus Deighton’s New Year call to ‘build a country in which everyone feels that they belong’ should remind us all to include a more humane immigration system among our post pandemic priorities for those young people whose belonging remains unfairly threatened.  

 

In my personal life, I learned a lot about the struggle of people from migrant backgrounds through my close relationship with the Japanese community in London. I’ve appreciated the determination through uncertainty that people without secure status have to exist by while contributing to society as neighbours and tax-payers. Understanding the pressures that those I loved faced, and realising how they doubly impact on those who’ve grown up as children in this country, has helped me to recognise solidarity with the thousands of young people We Belong seeks to represent and mobilise. 

 

To be in solidarity means showing more than just empathy for the 332,000 children and young people growing up in the UK today without any formal immigration status. It means being prepared to take action - to be bold of thought and to fight for justice with wisdom. In the 10th anniversary year of Advantaged Thinking, standing up with We Belong feels profoundly right.  Even if I can’t be a Kamala Harris and say 'I hope I won’t be the last' ageing British-born Chair, as part of We Belong’s investment in emerging young leaders, I’m aiming to make sure I am.  What's important though is appreciating that We Belong is about inclusion through shared values - we all have a place in its chapter.

 

 I know I will only be worth the responsibility of my post if I can help We Belong ensure that all young people without secure status feel their place in Britain is properly recognised too. That is my purpose for being here – to work alongside a talented team of young people and fellow trustees towards a summit of greater equality.  Which is why there are some words from Kamala Harris that I feel I can authentically shout out with everyone on the climb: "Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they've never seen it before". 

As my guide said to me each sunrise in Nepal, ‘Jam Jam’– let’s go! This is a journey for life: let's get there together.

If you would like to join me in helping to campaign for a shorter, more affordable route to settlement for thousands of young people who have lived most of their lives in the UK, please find out more and consider donating to We Belong's cause HERE