Take Back the Future

This project, funded by The Big Lottery’s Awards For All scheme, worked with a mixed group of young people from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. It aimed to build confidence and self esteem; improve communication and social skills as well as support them in developing a product based on teamwork and creativity.

We worked with three cohorts of young people for 10 weeks at a time. Having taken part in loveLife workshops and activities, each group focused on creating a final product. These were: 

     Hidden Hero: A short film exploring the relationship between the visible vulnerability and inner strength of each individual which are often unseen by the world.

     Summer Mix: A music track with original lyrics celebrating a new generation of young people with a  positive attitude and lifestyle

-          Today: A spoken word piece set to music about individual reflections on what today means.  

Out of the 48 participants 24 gained a nationally accredited Youth Challenge Award and 3 completed their Duke of Edinburgh Award. 16 of the young people involved have continued to work with us even though the project ended

Greece - Creativity

Creativity Six was back in Greece in September 2011. loveLife groundbreakers aged 18 – 26 years spent ten glorious days with 120 young people from 12 EU nations developing the theme of volunteering and activism in creative ways.

We chose one creative medium from Performance, Dance, Web radio, Comics, Circus Skills, Arts & Crafts and Photography to create a presentation at the final celebration. We shared a truly inter-cultural experience of food, languages, humour, music, friendship and fun on the beech, in our wagons and at the barbecue available every night. Night ran into day and vice versa. Eyes were permanently glazed open as people didn’t want to miss out on another crazy experience.. there were so many!

We made so many contacts and developed so many positive relationships and networks across Europe –we’ve already been invited to Poland next year! Bring on Creativity 7!

Sweden - R.E.S.P.E.C.T Exchange

This very exciting exchange brought together young people from Sweden and young people in the UK on a boat in Essex for a week. The aim of the RESPECT exchange, funded by Youth in Action program, was to explore issues of gender equality, what it’s is like to be young and European.

The week was spent learning about each others cultures, values, attitudes and behaviour, improving communication, problem-solving and teamwork skills through personal development workshops, creative activities, outdoor education and visits to projects and cultural sites.

By the end of the week the bonds of friendship developed over active days and sleepless nights filled with laughter were strong and the tears when we said goodbye to each other were hard to hold back. The Swedish group is now working on a return visit in 2012. We can’t wait to see them again!

The exchange was organised by loveLife Generation and Kvinnors Natwerk in Sweden A short film titled 'The DNA of Europe - Young, Free and Different' and postcards reflecting the programme were produced to highlight the amazing experience and a blog was kept before, during and after. Check it out here. 

Atlanta - Usher's New Look Foundation

Atlanta - Usher's New Look Foundation  In February 2011, loveLife Generation along with the Brunswick Club in Fulham got a taste of the 'Powered By Service' training programme led by youth leaders from Usher's New Look Foundation. The STAR himself also decided to pop by to the delight of everyone in the room. Usher’s New Look Foundation invited us to attend the annual World Youth Leadership Conference in Atlanta in July 2011. After 3 months of frantic fundraising bag packing at Morrison’s and ector writing funding applications we made it with a grant from Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium. We were the only group representing the UK From 20th – 22nd of July we mingled with young leaders from all over the world, learnt from each other and shared our experiences. We were motivated by the experiences and insights of high flyers in business, politics and the arts including Usher and Dougie Fresh. We performed at the Expressions event and were interviewed for both local and national TV. Peace was so overwhelmed she refused to allow anyone to touch her after being hugged by Usher!!!!
After the conference we stayed on to volunteer on a house building programme with Habitat for Humanity and take in the cultural and historical sights and sounds of Atlanta. We came back to London armed with a toolkit of resources to help train other young people in the Powered by Service curriculum and have just trained our first group to start setting up youth initiatives locally with funding from the Foundation. How cool is that!

NewLap at Newham College

We worked with Newham's Late Arrival Programme (NewLap) based at Newham College of Further Education in East Ham. This year, loveLife was integrated into NewLap's Enrichment Programme and we supported over 85 young people to improve their English communication and teamwork  skills over two and a half terms. 

Despite the very limited level of English, we were able to adapt the loveLife material to help 68 young people complete their Youth Challenge Award.  

The icing on the cake came in the last term when many of these young people became confident enough to make a promo film introducing NewLap for the new intake in September. This was really rewarding for loveLife as many of those featured in the film had been unable to say anything in front of anybody 6 months earlier. We wish them every success in the future.