Whittington Park Community Centre set up the Youth Club months before the London Riots with the aim being to integrate young people into their community and offering them positive experiences through volunteering. The youth club have met regularly at the Community Centre since then.

Since October 2025, one of Community Organiser’s Social Action Hubs, Octopus Community Network, have facilitated a six month workshop programme as part of the Arsenal/Adidas No More Red Campaign, and supported by the Islington Safer Neighbourhood Board and Humanity Project, to explore experience of safety.

Throughout these workshops, which took place between January and April, the young people were taken through a process using recognised anthropological methods to explore what home means to them, what makes them feel safe, and what they would like to change in their local area.

A brief outline of what these workshops entailed can be seen below

• Workshop one was hosted at the Adidas Box at the Emirates Stadium, and provided an introduction to the anthropological methods of the project to the participants. Participants were introduced to surrogate voicing, exploring how it feels to have someone else tell your story, rather than being able to share your own story in your way, and photo voice. Participants took photos of parts of the Emirates that meant something to them, and then took turns to talk about why those photos were chosen.
• Workshop two took place at Whittington Park Community Centre. Participants brought photos they had taken of home and took turns to explain why they had taken the specific photo, opening up discussions about which parts of the borough feel like home, what makes them feel safe and what has changed over recent years.
• Workshop three was additional and took place at Whittington Park, and was an opportunity for the group to begin to plan the Youth Assembly and take ownership over different parts.
• Workshop four was a video voice tour of the local area, with the young people speaking about their experiences of growing up in Islington, what they would change, and where they have felt most/least safe.

Additional workshops were facilitated throughout to plan the youth summit and create a short film to explore the issues.

These workshops culminated in an assembly, Islington’s Youth Summit, where this film was shown. The young people then facilitated discussions with all participants, exploring key issues and themes, paving the way for action.

A selection of the themes that emerged are set out below.

A lack of local spaces:

Many of the discussion groups identified a critical lack of safe spaces due to the lack of local youth clubs, specifically estate-based centres. One group in particular highlighted that the model of fewer centralised hubs doesn’t work for all because of concerns about safety the young people have when travelling across the borough. These groups proposed creating hyperlocal spaces for young people, using community rooms or centres that already exist on many estates in Islington.

A communication gap:

A few groups discussed the lack of communication about services available as the most pressing issue, pointing out that even where facilities exist, many families and young people don’t know about them and therefore aren’t accessing them. These groups proposed creating a centralised youth-friendly directory, sharing information about activities on a ward-by-ward basis and using social media and school outreach as key ways to share this information.

The importance of trusted adults and mentors:

As much as physical local spaces was consistently highlighted as a key need, multiple discussions stressed that a physical space isn’t enough on it’s own. Two groups in particular highlighted that spaces are only effective when they have trusted, relatable community leaders and mentors who create a positive environment, and build a sense of belonging. These adults must have a consistent presence for these trust relationships to develop over time.

A disconnect between organisations:

A frustration shared within a number of the conversations was a feeling that community organisations often work in isolation. They noted that better collaboration could help share resources, avoid duplicating efforts, and ensure young people across the borough are able to access more consistent support.

Modernising opportunities:

When discussing what youth provision should look like, a number of discussions took place on the need for practical life skills to be taught, as well as new technologies such as AI, to help young people as they move into adulthood. Participants discussed that youth clubs aren’t just about keeping young people off the streets, but should be places for learning relevant skills, as well as connecting with real-world opportunities such as apprenticeships.

Youth voice:

A strong theme across the discussions was to ensure young people are directly involved in decision making, where youth provision is driven by the needs and wants of the young people. Groups felt that decisions around where budgets for youth provision are spent should involve young people themselves.

Next steps:

Each participant was asked to share an action to take away from the day based on the film and the discussions. These actions were all dated, with participants sharing when updates will be provided to keep action moving forward.

Actions included:

• Organising an environmental audit walkabout on the Elthorne Estate, with young people showing the Islington Council Community Safety Team key areas for improvement
• Investigating the closed community centre space on the estate
• Sharing the film and talking about the day with others
• Attending youth spaces to speak to young people directly
• Sharing information for young people to join local decision-making boards
• Offer of mentoring opportunities
• Creating connections to encourage collaboration
• Talking to partners about how they could facilitate skills development within youth clubs
• Co-designing Level 1 youth work course
• Engaging with schools to show the film

Over the coming months, Octopus Community Network will be following up with all those who attended the events, to understand their progress on the actions they committed to, and will continue working with the young people to ensure they can access the opportunities presented at the Summit and continue to have their voices heard to create local change.

A screening of the film is planned for the evening of the 19^th June 2026. Full details to be released soon, but please email info@octopuscommunities.org.uk if you are interested in attending.

The film will then be made publicly available, and a link shared here for you to access.