Our Youth Officer Rosie Wright reports back from our work for UK Parliament Week 2022.

In November of 2022 Hope for the Future were delighted to host an event under the umbrella of UK Parliament Week; an annual event held nationwide to spread the word about what Parliament is, what it does, and how people can get involved. 

Hope for the Future held our event in Stoke-on-Trent at YMCA North Staffordshire, where we hosted a workshop for young members of the YMCA Go program and residents of the YMCA campus. 

Our workshop was active and energetic, encouraging participants to speak up, move around, and engage with the issues discussed in creative ways through the use of play and fun games. Throughout the course of the workshop we focussed on what Parliament is, exploring Hope for the Future’s approach to non-violent communication, analysing issues of climate change, and learning the fundamentals of working effectively with Parliament to help address climate issues.

As part of the workshop participants also worked together to develop a ‘Youth Climate Vision’ outlining some of the key changes they would like to see in their future on both a local and national scale. All of the young people had intelligent and articulate insights to share, and there were some interesting common themes that emerged from the Vision they created. These included: an acknowledgement of the need for warm homes for all, and ambition to completely transition away from fossil fuels and embrace renewables, and the desire for more accessible public transport, to name but a few!

For the conclusion of our workshop we welcomed Baroness Anderson and former MP for Stoke Central Gareth Snell for a lively discussion where young participants had the chance to make their voices heard and ask questions about their Youth Climate Vision, and explore the best ways to work on making their hopes for the future a reality. They were also able to learn about the role of Parliament and the work of politicians within it from individuals with direct experience.

Overall Hope for the Future found it a pleasure to assist such engaged and passionate young people with articulating the climate issues that matter most to them, as well as signposting all the ways in which Parliament can act as a useful tool to help them achieve their climate goals. 

We are now looking forward to more exciting youth events in the coming year – including the re-launching of our Eco-Summit program in the Autumn of 2023 – to enable us to reach even more young people and support them to make their voices heard!

‍