Urgent: Empower Youth Voices in Croydon

Thornton Heath local, Shaniqua Benjamin, 24, has launched a crowdfunding campaign that will enable her to empower more young voices in Croydon through her platform, Young People Insight.

Young People Insight (YPI) is a youth-led platform that empowers the voices of young people and encourages community engagement through writing and events, such as monthly forum discussions and poetry nights. Involvement in the platform should develop communication skills and respect for others, as well as build self-esteem and confidence.

The crowdfunding campaign has now reached the halfway mark after launching on April 12th on Fundsurfer, under the title, ‘Empower Youth Voices’ and it will come to an end on May 17th.  Shaniqua wants to raise £2300 in order to hold more events, create more YouTube content and put on workshops run by other organisations or professionals.  The total currently stands at £804.

Some of the rewards offered on the campaign have also come from the young people involved in YPI, including a collection of poems from some of the young poets who have performed at their poetry nights.  You can view the full campaign page here: http://bit.ly/empower-youth-voice

Shaniqua said: “I hate hearing young people say that they feel that their voices don’t matter or that their voices aren’t heard; especially when a snap election is called and their voice could make all the difference.  I hope that my platform will change that and they will realise that at least one person cares about what they have to say, because I’m listening.

“Creating a dialogue among young people is also of increasing importance with all the issues that we are facing, from mental health to knife crime, so I hope that people will get behind my campaign and make a pledge to empower young voices in Croydon.”