As part of Advocacy Awareness week, the People First Advocacy Taxi rolled up at the gates of the Carlisle Youth Zone. After fighting off the Rain, we set about repurposing our Taxi from a car to a stage to perform a show of inclusion, empowerment, and loud voices.
The young people of Carlisle enjoyed being in the Mini, and of course, singing along to some current and classic tunes. The theme of the setlist was songs promoting speaking out, resilience, and some of the teenager’s own suggestions such as ‘This Is Me' from The ‘Greatest Showman and 'Don’t Stop Me Now' by Queen.
The young people were not shy about telling us that we were out of touch with good music (a comment we wholeheartedly deny) however we could still agree on the classics. One young person said:
" I can now cross off being in a Mini Cooper off my bucket list!"
Delivering workshops through fun, engaging activities, where young people can participate, make choices and fight their corner on what good music is, is the very point of speaking up and being a confident self-advocate.
Advocacy is a word rarely used in education and Youth Clubs, although everyone agrees with the importance of speaking out for what you believe in and understanding your human rights, Advocacy isn’t really taught in schools. People First is doing its bit to introduce the meaning of Advocacy to everyone, including young people. We hope to see a new generation of Advocates in the future.
A big thank you to Carlisle Youth Zone for hosting our People First and the Advocacy Taxi!
