Newham Council is partnering with the Recorder to celebrate Year of the Young Person until February 2022 – celebrating the achievements of young people and highlighting the services and support aimed at them.

Newham Council’s Year of the Young Person is helping nine young people deliver community projects to improve the lives of other young residents.

At the end of 2021, the Youngest in Charge (YIC) project, an initiative funded by Newham Council, Newham Training Hub and HeadStart Newham, awarded funding to a group of young people to deliver their own health and wellbeing community projects.

James Kaguima, who will be running Skate Cabal – Roll in peace, said: “Stratford used to be the central base for all rollerskating in London.

“My project will bring this legacy back, reviving the vibrant culture and community.

"It will also improve young people’s mental health through increased social interaction, physical activity and the social network of new friends who share an interest.”

%image(15255229, type="article-full", alt="James Kaguima wants to bring Stratford's "rollerskating legacy" back")

Project 22 is Iman Sheriff’s podcast project, which focuses on topics affecting Somali young adults.

Iman said: “The idea is to normalise talking about taboo topics, discuss them in the current light as a young person and value our experiences as young Somali adults growing up in the West with parents who struggle with language barriers.”

Amari Webb-Martin will be running a dance project called Perspectives, which, he said, explores “different perspectives of personal injustices due to identity and how this impacts the wellbeing of those affected”.

He added: “Using dance and spoken art forms to convey this allows healthy methods for young people to build mental resilience, confidence and self-esteem and transferrable skills such as discipline, creativity and problem-solving.”

Jesse Idike has developed a project called Space 4 Me.

Jesse said: “This is a space for my age group to learn together, make friends, go out to be safe. As I am autistic, there are so many things I would like to do but I can’t do alone.”

Other projects funded by YIC include Football and a Healthy Newham by Tahmid Hussain; Composing Instrumentals, a music-based project by Malachi Lee Brown and Aspire to Inspire by Gerrard Onyia, which will support budding young entrepreneurs.

%image(15255232, type="article-full", alt="Jesse Idike's project is called Space 4 Me")

Effecting Change Through Art by Dominique Francis and “ATW” by Loreen Allick, based on the art of cookery and food education, have also been funded.

As well as money, the young people will receive mentoring and training to implement their projects.