Ten Thanet teenagers have created a video, mural and posters in a bid to raise awareness for the isle’s LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (or questioning) and others) community.
The teens, aged 15-17, completed the action as part of the National Citizen Service scheme. Young people on the scheme gain independence, develop skills for their CV, make new friends and participate in something worthwhile and impactful for the community.
Team member Georgia said: “We are a group of young people doing a social action project to bring awareness towards the discrimination of those identifying within the LGBTQ+ community:
“Our team has created a short video explaining what we are about and why we are doing this specific subject.
“It is to make people feel comfortable if they do come out and explains what you should not say or do. We also made posters and we are going to stick them inside shops to spread the awareness even further.
“Our team came up with a design to put on a mural for LGBTQ+ and this will help people to feel welcomed into the LGBTQ+ community and for them to express themselves and to be proud in who they are and speak freely with confidence.
“We would like our project to make a big impact within the community, showing that people from every background people should and shall be accepted. This is why we have incorporated the BLM logo in the mural as a reflection of the discrimination of other minority groups.”
Each summer NCS, a government funded programme, delivers a programme for 16 and 17 year olds to develop their skills, make new friends and make an impact in their local community. Although the Covid 19 outbreak has meant the full programmes with outdoor activity residentials and stays at university halls to develop life skills have been halted, NCS has created a short 2 week Keep Doing Good Programme.
Keep Doing Good has been an opportunity for smaller groups of young people to take part in skills based activities and donate volunteering hours through designing their own project to benefit their local community.
In Thanet there were two teams of young people who have worked together to create two projects.
Kerry Boyd, NCS Programme Coordinator, said: “The young people have developed so much over such a short amount of time having gone from being a group where nobody knew each other except one or two to come together and bond over their project.
“During their first week, the young people took part in a variety of sessions including debates, community exploration and tackling societal issues.”
Ingeus is the local provider for NCS in the South East. For more information about NCS and the KDG programme please head to https://wearencs.com/keep-doing-good
