What we do A Voice for Young People Headliners (UK) is a national charity that supports children and young people to have a voice. Our charity has a 27-year track record of inspiring children and young people to investigate and challenge the world around them. Our programmes improve confidence, skills, resilience and aspirations and we involve young people in decision making from project to strategic planning. Headliners (UK) provides a platform to enable and empower children and young people to share and amplify their voices, so they are heard. We use multi-media programmes and tools to help young people learn new skills, engage with other people from different backgrounds and give them the means to make good choices in their own lives. Young people are involved in decision making across the organisation and four of our Trustees are former participants in the Headliners (UK) programme. We work with young people in London, North East England and Northern Ireland. "It's really good that we've had the chance to voice our opinions so that people can hear there is people like us looking for help and when the right help is given we'll take it.." Young person in custody, 2015 Our Vision Our vision is a world where young people's voices are heard, where they believe in themselves, are empowered and able to make positive choices and changes for themselves and for others. Our Mission: Our mission is to provide a platform for young people to share their voices, positively challenge the world around them, build their self-confidence and promote young people's right to be heard as equals. Our Cornerstones: All young people have voices and views that are respected and listened to. All young people are talented, creative and deserve to be nurtured and supported to create a positive future. All young people deserve equal access to inclusive opportunities and the resources they require to fulfil their potential. All young people matter and our role is to provide support and opportunities for them to identify and develop their own strengths. All young people should feel safe, have a safe space and be supported without judgement Our Operating Principles: Consult, empower and involve young people in decision making and day to day activities. Create a safe space for young people. Build positive relationships between our workforce and young people. Have a youth-centred approach and begin our support where the young person is at in their lives. Use inclusive multi-media, journalism and story-telling practical skills-based activities Each young person is empowered to create their own content for each project or activity Promote social mixing, cohesion and opportunities for young people to make friends Ensure effective and efficient use of our charity’s resources Ensure consistent management, leadership and good governance principles are adopted across all elements of the charity’s operations. Our 2022-2025 Strategy Strategic Objectives 2022-2025 Headliners Youth Voices: We will do this by enabling young people to have an inclusive platform to amplify their voice supported our charity that is the best we can be through effective governance, leadership and youth engagement to empower youth voices. Headliners Youth Opportunities: We will do this by developing our partnerships and alliances to amplify youth voices to create opportunities for young people to enhance their future life chances by making positive choices and access inclusive opportunities. Headliners Reaching Out: We will do this by strengthening young people’s voices, empowering them to positively challenge the world around them supported by sustainable resources and income in the charity to achieve our vision and mission. Read our Strategy here Our Impact The impact of the projects delivered during 2020/21 has: Increased young people’s involvement in social action and civic engagement Empowered young people with special educational needs to reduce their likelihood of being drawn into criminal activity Given young people leaving care the power and means to take control over their own lives and have a more meaningful voice in their futures The impact of the projects delivered during 2020/21 shows that involvement in Headliners (UK) programmes significantly improves individual outcomes for young people: 94.8% of young people felt more confident after taking part in our programmes 99.67% of young people said they felt their contribution was valued 97.52% of young people said they cared about their community more 100% of young people said they felt they were able to give their own opinion 98.56% of young people had better job prospects / did better at school 100% of young people felt more confident talking to groups of people 93.50% of young people would recommend Headliners (UK) Our impact is also outlined in our latest annual report and accounts Our Achievements Since Headliners started in 1994, we have worked with over 14,000 young people and they have produced more than 8,000 stories on issues important to them. For 2021-2022 we are approaching the end of our delivery year and year to date we have reached 1877 young people and the increase is due to a Skills Booster programme we are delivering in the North East. Achievements and Performance in 2020-2021 Headliners (UK) supported 775 children and young people in England and Northern Ireland in 2020-2021 1950 social action and volunteering hours generated to support local community projects in the North East. 75 young people aged 14 and over were registered for accreditation in journalism, communication, technical skills and skills for professions in the creative and digital industries. 9 new Trustees appointed to our Board of Trustees to strengthen the governance and decision-making in the charity. We built partnerships and alliances with 107 new groups, organisations and partners enabling us to reach new cohorts of disadvantaged young people and add value to youth provision. Headliners (UK) reached 405,862 impressions on Twitter during 2020-2021 to amplify the voice of young people and share their stories. Review of 2020 – 2021 Charitable Activities COVID Pandemic Like many charities across the country, Headliners (UK) has faced significant challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic presented for the charity, our team, our partners, funders and importantly the young people we seek to support. In April 2020, the charity said farewell to our long serving Director and a new Chief Executive joined the charity - right in the middle of a national lockdown due to the pandemic. The staff team adapted very well and very promptly to online Google Meets / Microsoft Teams meetings and establishing online delivery for young people. Through proactive discussions with our funders, the funded projects found innovative ways to reach young people and provide much needed support during the three national lockdowns. North East Tynesiders: Project supporting young people from new, emerging and established communities in North and South Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead to unearth, document and share their communities’ unique (im)migration stories funded from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project supported 56 young people to capture their stories through photography projects and oral histories for exhibition across Tyne and Wear and enrich the archives of local museums and galleries with 22 young people engaged in OCN learning programmes. 100% of young people reported that they would be more likely to access heritage venues as a result of taking part in the project 67% reported having more confidence to mix with different groups of people. 100% of the young people felt valued and listened to as a result of the project. 100% said that they would recommend Headliners to others. 67% said they would be more likely to take part in heritage projects in the future. 100% young people felt that their confidence had grown as a result of taking part in the project. Digital Transitions: Lloyds Bank Foundation Invest funded project to support young people transitioning from care to independence. Our 'Digital Transitions' project blends group engagement activities, 1-2-1 mentoring and employability skills training backed by a hands-on, accredited media programme to promote young people's personal and social development, as well as equipping them with the skills and experience to stand on their own two feet. Over 25 young people supported to build their confidence, develop their life skills and amplify their voices during the COVID pandemic. 83% of young people felt they have become a lot more optimistic about their future 79% felt more confident in how they felt they were dealing with their problems. National Citizen Service: Social action and active citizenship: Headliners (UK) are a proud delivery partner of the National Citizen Services (NCS) Trust. Due to the COVID pandemic and government restrictions, the North East were not able to deliver conventional summer and autumn residential programmes. The Summer adapted and much limited NCS programme reached 29 young people and generated over 750 social action hours back into their local communities. The programme quality was judged from young people scored 84.21 % against a national average of 63.7% and a North East average of 63.8%. Parent / guardian feedback was also high with 88.89% positive score against a national figure of 74.5% and regional average of 83.8%. For the Autumn programme, 40 young people completed the programme and completed 1200 hours of social action. The Autumn 2020 programme NPS scores achieved 77.8% for quality in the backdrop of high COVID cases in the North East. Our bespoke NCS autumn programme at the Jarrow Route2Work College on South Tyneside that was recognised by North East Youth and won the North East Youth's Projects with Pride Partnership of the Year Award. Northern Ireland Our Together We Can, Together We Will Our project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund supported 242 young people in 2020-2021 through providing a range of programmes sessions enabling to create podcasts, stories, photo-stories and media content. The #LifeinLockdown series was well received as was our partnership with Parents of Children with Autism (POCA) and Playtrail. One of the films we supported young people to produce can be seen here: https://www.headliners.org/the-playtrail-tea-in-the-park-has-returned Our Young Researchers Group in Northern Ireland undertook a research project to identify and capture other young people's views and thoughts on what young people in Northern needed and / or wanted support with. Our Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI) Project COVID ReStart project enabled 8 young people to be supported to re-engage and re-start their journey and share their voices and stories from the pandemic. EANI also supported our charity with a small amount of PPE funding enabling us to support young people with PPE when our session resumed face-to-face. London #Unfiltered Our Unfiltered project supported by the Mayor’s Office Young Londoners Fund to raise the voice of young people who are excluded or isolated in London explored a wide range of topics including Black Lives Matter, the COVID pandemic lockdowns and youth mental health. An example of the young people’s stories can be found here: https://www.headliners.org/mental-health-and-coping Unfiltered supported 168 young people during 2020-2021 and provided much needed support online and then face-to-face for Young Londoners. Vanguard Young Reporters The Young Reporter Safe Spaces project supported by the Vanguard Group enabled Headliners (UK) to create safe spaces for young people in East London to take part in after school activity and support them to avoid getting drawn into youth violence. Keeping It Wild Increasing young people’s access to nature: The Keeping It Wild project has been delivered in partnership with London Wildlife Trust, London Youth and John Muir Trust funded by The Heritage Lottery fund tackled the challenges of the national lockdowns to support young people to access nature. The project enabled: 16 Trainees to be trained in Media and Journalism with all being certificated with OCN. 122 young people engaged in multi-media programmes through Wild Action Programmes 52 young people engaged through Wild Action Meet programmes with one of the young people sharing that “It’s been an insightful and comprehensive media training experience.” UK Wide Co-Ray Headliners (UK) is delighted to work in partnership with the Emerging Minds Network and Fully Focused on a unique eighteen-month project that will respond to the challenges young people have faced from the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on their mental health. More information on the project can be found here: https://www.headliners.org/co-ray-project