We believe that the voices of young people should be at the heart of our decision-making. The research we undertake involves us working with our community to ensure we are listening and responding directly to the opinions of young people themselves.
This, combined with findings in the sector at both local and national level, help ensure we are always driving Westminster youth services forwards.
Our City, Our Future 2023/24 is Young Westminster Foundation’s third peer-led needs analysis, covering the issues and experiences of young people growing up in Westminster today. To produce this report, we worked with a trained group of 15 young people as peer researchers, in addition to hearing from youth workers, practitioners and parents/carers through a series of focus groups and surveys, conducted in partnership with Rocket Science with support from the University of Westminster.
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In 2023 a new action research report launches in Westminster, highlighting employment support needs for young people aged 18-25 in North Paddington.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the advent of the North Paddington Programme, Paddington Development Trust, Westminster Council and Young Westminster Foundation collaborated in jointly commissioning the research behind this report.
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Our most recent peer-led piece of research was conducted during 2020, and helped capture the pressures and impact that Covid-19 had on young people. With a particular focus on mental health, social action and access to opportunities, the findings have helped identify key areas of focus in a challenging period for the sector.
Created in partnership with Rocket Science, King’s College London and Partnership For Young London.
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In 2017, we began our first study with a team of local peer researchers, looking to understand more deeply the experiences of young people growing up in the borough. This was the formative youth-led piece of work which formed the foundation’s strategic and thematic priorities.
Conducted by Rocket Science in partnership with our members and partners.
READ OUR REPORTDuring the first wave of the pandemic, we ran bi-weekly online focus groups with 10 Westminster youth workers. Our findings were shared with our community via a bulletin, capturing a hyper-local context to ensure we were responding as well as we could during challenging times.
Our research and collaboration with youth organisations and young people has helped us identify three key priorities for the borough:
Summary of the partnership consultation with community members and young people living in North West Westminster around Serious Youth Violence, prepared by our partners Total Media and their Behave team.
One-year review of Westminster’s youth employability programme delivered by 2-3 Degrees and partners Inspire! and Westminster Befriend A Family.
The project continues to bring together a network of businesses and volunteers to open up access into the world of work for young people in Westminster.
Below, we provide a list of resources that offer further insight into the experiences of young people and the role of youth organisations in both a local and national context.
Research on the dramatic cuts to youth services and the loss of facilities for young people in London.
Needs assessment supporting the intentions to improve services for young adults in Westminster and RBKC.
A community response to reducing youth violence in London by Tania Skae.
London Youth’s report on the role and value of youth organisations in strengthening communities.
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