From Engage to Exchange

From Engage to Exchange

“We want people to know they can learn from us… We’re valuable” - Y-Change participants

Understand the development process that has driven Berry Street's shift into a new era of youth engagement.

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Initiative

Youth Engagement

Youth Engagement

Young people who have experienced disadvantage are the only people who can tell us what a policy looks and feels like when it comes to life. They are key knowledge holders in the search for ‘what works’ and the understanding of what doesn’t and they must be at discussion and decision-making tables, always. Berry Street aspires to make this a practical reality, not only in our organisation and our work, but in all contexts that are important in young people’s lives.

YOUth exCHANGE Training

Co-conceived, co-designed and co-facilitated with young people who have experienced disadvantage, this training challenges organisations to make a values shift. It provides skills and tools to take youth participation practice to the next level.

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about

Youth Engagement in Action

“If we want to prevent generations of young people from replicating the cycles of disadvantage that they have been born into there must be a radical shift in how we conceptualise, engage with and work alongside them”

- Lauren Oliver, Senior Advisor Youth Engagement in her Churchill Fellowship report

Y-Change

Y-Change is a social and systemic change platform for young people aged 18-25 with lived experience of disadvantage. Through training and employment they learn to understand, build on and adapt the skills and knowledge they have gained through their experiences. Their employment then sees them use their expertise in advocacy, leadership, change-making and professional contexts.

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Y-Change

Momentum

Momentum is a social enterprise providing the government, not for profit and community sector with access to trained and supported young Lived Experience Consultants. Momentum consultants can add value to a client’s youth engagement practice through: tailored training; advising on youth

engagement strategy and approach; undertaking peer consults with service users; delivering keynote presentations; facilitating relevant workshops and meetings; and responding to specific consultancy requirements.

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Momentum

From Engage to Exchange

In 2012 Berry Street developed a set of commitment statements outlining our aspirations for the way in which we hoped to eventually partner with young people. Today those statements reflect our active practice. 

The nature of Berry Street has enabled us to take risks, experiment and take the time to seek out better ways of working, in partnership with young people.

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Radical Shift
Announcement 3

Y-Change’s New Recruits!

The beginning of 2018 saw eleven new young people come on board for the 2018/19 Y-Change opportunity. They had their Orientation Camp in January and have since embarked on their Training & Preparation phase, which will conclude in June.

Announcement 4

YOUth exCHANGE Training

Developed through lived experience and professional knowledge this 2-day training provides participants with the tools to radically shift their youth engagement practice.

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Announcement 1

See More

Off the back of our See Me event in December 2017, Lived Experience Consultant Natasha Anderson is working with our new Y-Change team to continue her exciting work to tackle the invisibility of young people in the national conversation about family violence.