The CWBR Youth project from PLANED has literally drawn out the messages of young people across Pembrokeshire over the last few months.
Between February and May this year, nine events across the county brought over 120 young people and local Town and Community councillors together; discussions on community strengths and shared opportunities for improvement fed directly into the creation of eighteen large Graffiti boards with the support of local artist Lloyd the Graffiti.
Funded by the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner’s ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) fund, the project also has raised awareness of steps decision makers can take to help minimise the impact in adult life of traumatic events experienced as a child – for example mental health, parenting or substance misuse issues.
When looked at together, the boards highlight themes of interest and concern to young people across the county including access to transport, youth spaces and activities and affordable housing as well as a desire for brighter, kinder communities and improved natural environments where young people are better connected to older residents and feel welcome and safe.
The boards have since been showcased at three events around the county where senior decision makers from relevant organisations discussed the findings with young people and pledged actions to help make progress on the issues raised. A further opportunity for Councillors, community leaders and the public to view and respond to the boards will take place at the County Show thanks to the offer from Pembrokeshire College to use their new facility on the site.
Project Lead Tom Moses notes “The ACES Graffiti project has demonstrated that simply bringing decision makers and young people together in an informal setting and sharing a fun activity allows for conversations to highlight issues and working relationships to develop. The boards make the issues clear, and we hope hard to ignore. The challenge is now to follow up on the discussions and support Town and Community Councils and other bodies to take action, develop sustained links and work together with young people to make progress – some of these are big complicated issues that will take time and resources but there are many things that can be done quickly and at low cost, demonstrating commitment to involving young people. CWBR Youth will continue to lobby and engage with partners to progress as much of this as possible”
The current CWBR Youth project focuses on Pembrokeshire, but support for the project has been wide ranging; Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn attended the first event in Pembroke Dock and invited PLANED to present the project to his Youth Panel Conference in Parc-y-Scarlets. The audience of over 80 welcomed the presentation, and generated calls for PLANED to extend and deliver this project with partners in Carmarthenshire.
Should you wish to find out more about the ACES Graffiti project and CWBR Youth in general, please head to our pages across both Facebook and Twitter, and PLANED’s website, or contact tom.moses@planed.org.uk
