The Leaders of Tomorrow group – presentation on diversity in Peckham.
Minutes:
Representatives of Leaders of Tomorrow were present to give an overview on what the project did which was a leadership mentoring programme designed to raise academic achievement of children and young people particularly from ethnic minority groups. They run the community project in the Nunhead area.
Lindsay Johnson, main spokesperson, volunteer and mentor of Leaders of Tomorrow explained Val Miller who had worked in the community for 30 years set up the group in 2002. One of its purposes was to challenge the stereo typical attitude and images of young people. He said it was about raising achievements and heightening their academic level. The group consists of people from different age ranges and their motto at the group is ‘mind is power’. They meet at least once a week and have debates about current affairs and they tackle issues like knife crime. Guest speakers have been invited to provide inspiration to young people so they were able to broaden their horizons outside their local area.
The project organised trips to the theatre so the young people were able to improve their language skills. Project members received mentoring on academic achievements. The Leaders of Tomorrow usually ask young people to mentor the younger members of the project to share their reading skills and knowledge and raise awareness about great leaders. The other topics they talked about was diversity in Peckham.
The young people that were in attendance spoke about what it was like to be part of Leaders of Tomorrow.
Nadia, 16 years old said she had been member of the Leaders of Tomorrow for five years. Nadia explained that since being a member it had raised her confidence, awareness and levels of achievement. She recognised and embraced the cohesive community which was about acceptance and respect.
Tia, 12 years old said she had been a member for two years, since being a member it had increased her confidence and raised her awareness. She also does well at school.
Richardo, 14 years old said since he joined Leaders of Tomorrow it had more of a focus and has done well in his studies and explained that there was more to life than being involved in gangs. He made reference to the recent fatality of a 16 year old boy in Elephant and Castle who was set upon by several youths.
Other representatives from Leaders of Tomorrow gave their experiences and shared them with the meeting. They also thanked the community council for the funding the project had received.
In response to questions from councillors the representatives responded to the following:
The key motivation to keep young people involved would be:
· People, parameters and discipline.
· Achievements and try to aim for their potential full in whatever they wanted to achieve.
· Reading and learning would be encouraged.
· To encourage young people to have respect, care, keep eye contact and stand in upright position – notably referred to as ‘soft skills’.
· Interact with other community groups – as they currently use the community space at Peckham Platform (formerly called Peckham Space).
How does the community council get young people more involved in their community? The main spokesperson said usually by word of mouth.
The chair said at the meeting that he would encourage young people to get involved with Leaders of Tomorrow and other community groups.
For more information about Leaders of Tomorrow - visit: lotlondon.org.uk