Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

Case study 7
Policy context
Regional Social Strategy – the strategy to achieve social inclusion throughout the East of England
Young Community Champions
Laura McPartlin successfully applied for a Pathfinder Young Community Champions award. Her grant
enabled her to undertake training in creative musical techniques, building on skills gained during her
drama degree. Subsequently she has been organising workshops in Peterborough which target
disadvantaged young people from a range of ethnic backgrounds. As well as using drama and
movement to help build relationships within the group and confidence within individuals, the
workshops are also used to explore aspects of healthy living and other issues affecting young people.
Fusing different performance styles can build a creative understanding within the group you are
working with and can open people’s minds to the diversity in the world around us and enable
them to develop as members of their community.
Laura McPartlin, Pathfinder Young Community Champion
Case study 8
Young people and culture
In Wisbech headteachers are keen to ensure that their children and young people make full use of the cultural
opportunities on their doorstep. They are working together with Cambridgeshire Community Services and
Museums, Libraries and Archives East of England to define what is ‘on offer’ culturally in the locality and
to maximise the potential of local collections, places and people in drawing communities together.
This encourages children and young people to grow up understanding where the people who make up
their community come from, their stories and their traditions, helping them to develop their own sense
of identity as well as providing role models to inspire active citizens of the future.
This model is also being trialled in Lowestoft, Thurrock and Stanway.
When the Government consulted children, young people and their families, they wanted an approach which
was about every child achieving his or her full potential and in which children, families, communities and
professionals worked together.
There was a broad agreement that the following five key outcomes really matter for children and young
people’s well-being:
1. being healthy: enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy life-style
2. staying safe: being protected from harm and neglect and growing up able to look after themselves
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