Barking & Dagenham Community Campus Launched

19/04/21

The Youth Charter has teamed up with Barking & Dagenham Council to provide an innovative and exciting one-stop digital platform for organisations working with young people and communities to provide networking, leadership of sport, art, culture and digital activities and re-engage all those who have been affected during the pandemic.

Although plans had to be put on hold during the period of lock down, the objectives of the Youth Charter were accentuated by the tragic death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter movement. During this time, the Youth Charter has restructured and repositioned itself to meet the challenges still being faced in its campaign for a truly collaborative UK-wide effort. Founder & Chair of the Youth Charter, Geoff Thompson points out: “Our Call2Action launched by Lord Sebastian Coe and Baroness Doreen Lawrence in 2019 presented proposals to develop 10 Community Campuses in 10 Cities with 10,000 Social coaches to be selected, trained and deployed to deliver real, tangible and evidenced impact in the role that the above activities can play in improving the life chances of some of the most disaffected young people in the Borough and beyond”. Barking & Dagenham Leader, Cllr Darren Rodwell commented: “We must continue to address the youth disaffection and disadvantage that still provokes gang-related violence and loss of life on the nation’s streets and communities. Barking & Dagenham has been highlighted as one such area and it is our wish to see ourall-encompassing Action Plan delivering a truly equitable, diverse and inclusive #LegacyOpportunity4All throughout the borough in collaboration with their partners and stakeholders.”