Digitober Stories: Levelling the Playing Field at Manchester Youth Zone
A young person enjoys the computer facilities at Manchester Youth Zone.
Every child deserves the opportunities to realise the future of their choice.
For the last decade, Manchester Youth Zone has enabled children, teenagers, and young adults to expand their sense of the possible. With over twenty different activities to try - from arts and crafts, to boxing, and even roller disco – MYZ offers young people the chance to develop new skills, uncover hidden talents, and grow in self-belief.
Extra-curricular activities can hugely boost confidence, cultural capital, and all-around educational success, but access of opportunity is not equitably distributed. In Harpurhey, where Manchester Youth Zone is based, almost half of families live below the poverty line. Social and economic barriers prevent many young people from enjoying the rich variety of activities available in Manchester. Tragically, this can mean that many talented young people struggle to realise their full potential.
Manchester Youth Zone aims to change the narrative by broadening young people’s horizons, providing opportunities to take part in activities they might otherwise be unable to access. The playing field is not level. For young people from marginalised communities, opening doors to facilities including an allotment, music room, boxing gym, climbing wall, and dance studio, can help to address inequities in opportunity.
What are the possibilities for a young person who is able to try out new activities in a safe and supportive environment?
A fifteen-year-old who experiments with design software could discover a passion that changes their vision of what their future could be.
A teenager with access to music studio might realise they’d rather do just about anything else than play the guitar – but gain an appreciation of music that allows them to contribute to conversation from which they would otherwise be excluded.
Attending a roller disco for the first time could help a young person struggling with confidence to build the resilience to throw themselves into new experiences without fear, enabling them to take advantage of the range of opportunities they encounter in their future life.
A twelve-year-old who gains access to the facilities and training needed to develop their boxing skills might one day compete in the Olympics.
Opportunity of experience can be transformative, yet children from underserved communities often miss out. Irrespective of where they grow up, every child should have equal chance to succeed in whatever they set out to achieve. The immense talent in our communities should not be left to languish unnurtured.
As a charity, Manchester Youth Zone relies on the generosity of volunteers, partners, funders and communities to continue to make a difference in the lives of young people.
By connecting with Manchester City Council’s Digital Inclusion team, Let’s Get Digital, MYZ has been able to support its young people to access the full benefits of being online and develop new digital skills. As entertainment, communication, jobs, and essential services increasingly move online, it is vital that young people are equipped with the skills and knowledge to access future opportunities, and navigate the digital world safely, effectively, and responsibly.
In collaboration with partners across the city, Let’s Get Digital connects charities and organisations with the essential digital resources needed to drive their work forward.
Last week, Digital Inclusion Officer Data Adamia was thrilled to facilitate the donation of four 28-inch monitors, generously gifted by technology consultancy company 6point6, to help bring Manchester Youth Zone’s digital making space to life. The newly developed learning hub, centred on podcasting, digital design, and musical production, will encourage young people of all ages and backgrounds to grow their digital skills and pursue their creative passions.
The incredible young people that attend Manchester Youth Zone have already conjured up plenty of possibilities for how the devices might be used. A robotics group are eager to use the screens to compete in First LEGO League, an international competition that challenges young people to design, build and programme a LEGO robot. Being able to use multiple screens at once would help the team to work on different parts of their project simultaneously, supporting them to refine their robot’s performance. Another young person has ambitions plans to start the Youth Zone’s first ever podcast: a murder mystery filled with twists, guaranteed to keep listeners guessing.
With this much imagination and ambition, there is no doubt that Manchester’s young people could achieve incredible things. However, without the right support and opportunities, that potential could go to waste. Young people from disadvantaged communities are more vulnerable to poor educational attainment, future worklessness, and falling into antisocial behaviour – but we can work together to shape a different future.
Manchester City Council and the Let’s Get Digital team are incredibly proud to support Manchester Youth Zone in their mission to create a fair future for our city’s young people. The provision of digital resources, made available to young people at low or zero cost, is just one way we can empower the next generation to develop high aspirations, alongside the skills, knowledge and experience needed to fulfil them. Through the equitable provision of accessible opportunities, and ongoing support, we can empower children and teenagers to fully realise their own imagined futures.
Many young people in Manchester still struggle to engage in fulfilling activities outside of school. If you or your business could donate devices to help our Digital Inclusion team to support charities like Youth Zone Manchester in their vital work, please reach out.
We believe that everybody in Manchester should be able to access the benefits of being online. Find out how we’re working with organisations, businesses, and people to combat digital exclusion in our city: