Credit Youth

 

Taking a positive approach to credit youth in the cost of living crisis

What is Credit Youth?

The Credit Youth fund will offer access to up to a maximum of £45.60 per month per person (the cost of the UK average mobile phone contract) on the understanding that any funds offered will help individuals cope with external pressures so they can continue to achieve positive purpose in their life, as defined by young people themselves.  While only the Government has the resource to deal with rising fuel and food costs, we can do something to support young people to cover other necessities – thus the focus in Credit Youth on basic assistance to cover the cost of a monthly mobile phone bill or equivalent, recognising the importance for young people to stay positively connected and focused at this time. The investment is based on trust and belief in young people's value to bring good to life. 

How will Credit Youth work?

The fund will be paid to young people in advance over periods of 4 months, subject to ongoing need monitored through a conversation with the individual before each payment. Young people are invited to ask for whatever they need to cover their chosen bill, up to a monthly cap of £45.60.  The only requirements to access the fund are:

• Evidence to prove someone’s monthly contract fee (either from a contract or bank statement)
• Confirmation of what an individual hopes to continue focusing on to achieve purpose in their life – eg, any particular project, enterprise or activity they are involved in or aim to be involved in, for which assistance with financial pressures will offer support;
• Agreement from the individual to engage in a 4 monthly review to reflect on the impact gained from the assistance.  

 InspireChilli is committed to support Credit Youth for a trial period of 12 months, benefiting a small cohort of young people overcoming social disadvantages who  have some existing relationship with InspireChilli’s work (either through InspireChilli's Team Young People initiative or a partner project where young people are seeking to overcome experiences of disadvantage through their enterprise and talents). 

How will a donation support impact?

Money donated to Credit Youth will be directly matched by InspireChilli to double its  impact and reach.  The initial funding target  seeks to provide meaningful credit to support a cohort of at least 5 young people, rising up to 10 or more should the stretch target be met.  Impact on these young people will include supporting their mental wellbeing, sustaining positive belief, and assisting them to make progress with personal goals. While the beneficiary number is low, learning from Credit Youth will be used to influence others of the virtue in making future grants like this, promoted as positive forms of investment to release potential rather than being negatively presented as ‘hand outs’. In the longer term, Credit Youth can help many other young people benefit from positive investments in their potential.

How can you help to credit youth?

Please visit the Credit Youth crowdfunding page before the end of October to leave your support - see https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/credityouth

Time to Pay

 

It’s time to end the cruel practice of charities and funders expecting people to contribute value to projects, programmes, reports and consultations, without any recompense for their time and insights.

It’s an act perpetuated by far too many of our great and good, who treat both those deemed to be 'their beneficiaries', as well as those like myself operating as 'expert consultants', with complete disregard to our true status. We can not just be expected to exist to serve within the not for profit sector unless those with the power of funded resource are willing to treat the time, views and stories of others they value with the respect that payment affords.     

And no, a shopping voucher, coffee paid on your company credit card, or entry to a prize draw, will not always do. Sometimes these are welcome and sensible, but only when they meet the litmus test of whether we would be happy to receive the same for what someone is being asked to give. Imagine what it would feel like to find your monthly salary replaced with an amazon voucher or the slim chance to win a car you can't even afford the driving lessons for?

While no one forces those like myself to contribute - and I for one am always grateful to be given the chance to influence any decision making - the ability to volunteer often depends not just on the good will of individuals but their financial stability to be able to offer free time.  That is a luxury and privilege that not everyone can support. 

The generous #leadership that I, and the young people I work with, respect most of all is that which looks to invest in the capacity of others, proactively nurturing rather than just taking. The day I find an email offering me funding to invest in young people's talents will be the magical moment when I know the world has finally turned #AdvantagedThinking.

If this is a sector that really cares about #equity and power sharing, it must look to its own practices to be more generously empathetic in interactions with those external to itself.  It’s easy to spot the difference between those who exploit and those who empower. Which one are you?

Do it Justice - thoughts from Next Gen Fest.

 

Thoughts from the Next Gen Fest in London, May 26^th, 2022

 

‘Just Do It’ is one of those popular phrases whose full significance is not always understood.  It might be the slick marketing message of a Nike, or the rallying cry of Social Entrepreneurs on stages such as this month’s excellent Next Gen Fest; but it also marks the boundary of possibilities for those struggling to overcome far deeper challenges in their work and lives. 

 

After all, lest we forget, Nike’s marketing slogan was first inspired by the last words of a troubled 37 year-old facing a firing squad at Utah state prison in 1977. 

 

Next Gen Fest was a day of inspiration arranged by Launch It and Enterprise Nation through funding from the Government’s UK Community Renewal Fund. Highlights included insights from the wonderful Dhillan Bhardwaj, CEO and Founder of Ratchet Clothing; and a final round of pitches from young entrepreneurs benefiting from Launch It’s business development support and Enterprise Nation’s online resources. Disclaimer, I’m the evaluator for the programme being delivered by Launch It and Enterprise Nation so I do have a vested interest in its positive impact. 

 

Over the day, I noted repeated phrases from the stage that talked about the enterprise ‘journey’, the importance to be ‘authentic’; to ‘feel the fear’ and face up to anxiety; to achieve ‘balance’; focus on one’s ‘purpose’ and ‘why’. And most of all, the urge to just do it – to get started, learn from experience, burst the bubble of perfectionist doubt and get out there.  All of which I whole heartedly believe in. 

 

I couldn’t stop thinking, though, about those young people for whom ‘just doing it’ is as terrifyingly difficult as facing a firing squad. I’m talking about the context of those dealing with systemic injustices reflected in their negative experiences of mental health, the pressures of caring for other family members, and the grim reality of trying to get by in survival mode with diminished opportunities to express their true talents. For those people, the idea of ‘just doing it’ can feel like a pitch from another planet, against which they are more likely to feel unfairly inadequate and personally flawed. ‘The game is rigged against us,’ as one such young person confided in me; ‘And when you are clever enough to see that, you know you are truly fucked, because then there ain’t no slogan you can believe in beyond revolt’.  

 

But there are some programmes and organisations trying to change the game – including Launch It, who are also one of the delivery partners for the aptly named Opportunity Fund, a pilot initiative I helped develop with Blagrave Trust and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. This initiative offers young people a guaranteed income payment equivalent to two days a week at living wage over 18 months, along with expert guidance and supports (sourced through Launch It and another charity partner) providing the space for individuals to progress personal and social impact through a business venture or campaign.  Even this approach is no simple panacea to re-own the phrase ‘Just Do It’.  For starters, the pilot programme is a rare example of alternative funding – it is not the norm available for most young people.  Furthermore, it still exists within an ecosystem of support where the organisations on which it depends, such as Launch It, have to fight for their own survival through the short-term funding reality which the charity sector ultimately depends on. 

 

For example, I might be the person lucky enough to be in a position to capture the learning of the Opportunity Fund and Next Gen for others, but I only know that Inspirechilli can continue to ‘Just Do It’ for another 12 months after which, like too many organisations, I have no idea where the endless dance of contracts and lucky breaks will lead InspireChilli to.  Compared to some young people, even knowing that is a privilege. 

 

How on earth can a system made up of valued organisations and individuals fighting for their own survival be expected to provide the security of support and innovation so urgently required by those struggling with the ‘game’? How many consultation conversations can we be expected to contribute to without anything back to invest in our value? Why longer-term planning matters is brought home to me every time someone I’ve worked with back in my early years at Inspirechilli contacts me to ask for help or simply to say hello to someone they trust. Once you are older than 25, like they are, too many charities and funders offering support close the door on saying hello. 

 

Faced with a firing squad of funders and commissioners, my last words at Inspirechilli would be: ‘Do it Justice’.  

 

This idea formed the main focus of a key note speech I made a few years ago at the Living the Dream conference in Australia, (https://youtu.be/dAT11ueLOQM). I’d urge you to watch it, but at 20 minutes it falls far outside the timespan our lives and work afford us for new ideas.  If you do open the link, my voice might sound frail on the recording coming as it did in the week following my mother’s death in 2016, but you’ll find the content is richly relevant. 

 

If we want young people to live the dream of ‘just doing it’, we need to be doing so much more, so much better.  As I say in the speech:

‘The more our sector continues to ‘just do it’ by putting young people into policies and programmes where they can only survive and cope, the more we put those young people and ourselves in front of a firing squad with no real sustainable future to what we do. In other words, we can only truly do it justice for young people and the charity sector when we can do more than just help young people to cope with systems that aren’t working’

 

Which brings me back to the Next Generation programme: an investment in young people’s capability to establish a business venture or secure an employment opportunity offers one important jigsaw piece, however small, to fit together the puzzle of our modern transition into adulthood.  It may not be the driver to systemic change, but it still serves as important inspiration to get on with other forms of revolt to remove the blocks in the game. For that, I’m grateful to Launch It, Enterprise Nation, the UKCRF, and all the voices who contributed to Next Gen Fest.

 

For further information:

Next Generation: https://www.enterprisenation.com/next-generation/

The Opportunity Fund; https://www.blagravetrust.org/our-work/

Launch It: https://www.launchit.org.uk

 

 

Adventures in Advantaged Thinking

 

2022 launches the Foyer Federation’s 30^th birthday celebration with the publication of ‘Adventures in Advantaged Thinking’  - a work in which we have brought together the asset-based best practice, insights and voices from the first decade of Advantaged Thinking into a beautiful resource, shared for free thanks to support from Your Housing Group and the spirit of generous giving that continues to characterise Foyer Federation’s Home for Advantaged Thinking.

 

I have been really grateful for the opportunity to work with Foyer Federation and Your Housing group on this collaboration, and appreciated the creative freedom I was given in my writing. Advantaged Thinking might be the approach I founded, but no one ever works alone.

 

'Adventures in Advantaged Thinking' was the original title for a blog I first established in 2011 – ‘to find the places, people, opportunities, deals and campaigns that harness the talents of all young people. Wherever in the world, the aim as an 'advantaged thinker' is to breakthrough the deficits and disadvantages limiting human potential. And to do so with courage, wit and style’.  That old blog had its moments of notoriety, from my critique of a Prince’s Trust funding poster in Hackney, to the crazed Advantaged Thinking performance of ‘A Night of Bananas’ at a London theatre in 2014. But the new publication goes far further to achieve a long-held dream for the DNA of Advantaged Thinking to be accessible as a road for everyone to travel on.

 

In the writing process, I reflected on how important it was that Advantaged Thinking had so many brilliant supporters over the years – from funders such as Virgin Unite and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, through to the practice and policy innovations from Brotherhood of Saint Laurence and others in Australia, and the many young people I’ve worked with in this time, from various Foyers to my own Team Young People at InspireChilli and the amazing We Belong today.

 

Like all journeys, it’s also had its darker spots – the loss of Jane Slowey, whose spirit was certainly part of this publication; my own parents’ death; and, as everyone in the charity and enterprise sector will recognise, those experiences where you are stuck fighting for survival while trying to reach ahead to build the thriving world we wish for.  Ultimately, Advantaged Thinking runs on belief, and it’s that energy which has kept all those involved in its story connected together.

 

On a very personal note, when I get my printed copy, I will remember back to a moment shared with the wonderful Lorna Sage at one of her memorable parties at UEA, where we made a drunken pact that she would write Bad Blood (a book of tremendous power), and I would do ‘my postmodern thing’ which I was still too innocent to define. As someone who passionately believed in the transformational power of language and narrative, Lorna would have recognised that Adventures in Advantaged Thinking was the 'thing' she first signposted me into the world of teaching to discover.  

 

It’s remembering the contributions from everyone, alongside the next wave of new innovators, that keeps the Adventure that is Advantaged Thinking alive in us all.

As the forward to 'Adventures in Advantaged Thinking' says, ''For all those who share our passion for Advantaged Thinking – now and in the future – we hope this is a gift that will keep on giving. Please add to it, make it your own, and promote its ambition to others'. 

Download your free copy now at: https://www.foyer.net/adventures-in-advantaged-thinking