Hampshire Youth Commission Reports Findings at Conference

by Eloise Peabody-Rolf

On Thursday, 20th February, I presented at the Hampshire Youth Commission’s (YC) Conference in Winchester. The YC reported on our findings and recommendations to about 50 guests, including representatives from youth organisations and charities, Probation and Social Services, Police officers including the Deputy Chief Constable, and our sponsor the Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Hayes.

 

 

After an introduction from Simon Hayes, and a short video about YC I’d helped make, another Youth Commission member and I began the conference with our findings. I spoke about the findings on Domestic Abuse, summarising responses on the issues we received from the 2,000 young people we engaged with, (including PGS Years 9 and 10) and the actions we proposed.

 

After presenting our findings on the five focus areas the YC had selected, we had round table discussions with our guests, allowing any questions or points they had to be discussed with members of the Youth Commission. I found it really interesting to hear their thoughts our ideas brought up. I sat on the table with people with a particular interest in Domestic Abuse,. They looked at our findings in more detail, including: what we believe are the root causes, experiences we have heard about, potential solutions we have been given by the youth we have engaged with and our recommendations.

The PCC concluded the conference by thanking the YC members for their valuable insights and proposals. He said our findings are already influencing thinking on future PCC policies, and pledged to continue the initiative in Hampshire.

Here are some links to further information about the conference:

 

 

Links to further information about the conference:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.667414833305390.1073741881.447583738621835&type=1

http://www.hampshire-pcc.gov.uk/Get-Involved/Youth-Commission/Youth-Commission-Conference-2014.aspx

http://www.hampshire-pcc.gov.uk/News-and-Events/News-Archive/2014/Youth-Commission-presents-recommendations-from-the-Big-Conversation-to-Police-and-Crime-Commissioner-Simon-Hayes.aspx

Bringing "The Big Conversation" to PGS

On Tuesday 4th February I brought ‘The Big Conversation’ to Portsmouth Grammar School for a second time, this time to year 9 with the able assistance of Hayley King, Hampshire Youth Commission’s Project Coordinator.

Hayley and I took the year 9 assembly, with Haley taking the beginning of the presentation and introducing the 170 students to the activities and priorities of the Youth Commission. I then went on to talk about my fantastic experiences with the YC and other opportunities it has led to, like the ‘Take Over Day’ at the Office of the PCC, and the filming of the demo of the Community Court which I took part in with PC Mark Walsh and others at Portsmouth University (I’ve also got an interview next week for the Community Court pilot planned for Hampshire later this year – so fingers crossed!)

At the end of this assembly, plus the one we did to 160 year 10s back in November, we asked all the students to join in The Big Conversation.  After the assemblies they held sessions in smaller groups, which meant they could have animated discussions about issues they believe need to be dealt with. At the end of all of the sessions, every student completed a YC postcard giving us their personal input on local issues and their ideas for potential actions.