Reform Radio received £33,232 from People’s Health Trust with money raised by the Health Lottery North West for their ‘The Gorton Takeover’ project based in Gorton, Manchester.
The Gorton Takeover project aims to engage and upskill young parents in the Gorton area, especially those who are unemployed and have limited access to creative opportunities.
This is done through participation in monthly radio shows, weekly digital skills sessions and general support sessions. They have also worked together to develop campaigns on issues that are important to them.
For example, one of the campaigns focused on raising awareness about youth homelessness in Gorton. The project was called the Creative Collective, where the members of the group managed to raise money for a local homelessness charity through selling creative work they created. The project’s main objective was to empower the young adults and create a communal bond between them and their community.
The project also supports young parents to take part in creative sessions, focused on wellbeing, creativity and turning their craft into a business. Dance classes have also started at the request of members, which has supported over 20 children and parents, with a creche offered to enable parents without childcare to still take part and remain connected.
Speaking on the funding received from People’s Health Trust, Reform Radio’s Director Rachel Roger said, “Reform Radio has been supporting young adults in the Gorton community for the last 5 years and are excited to continue to engage with the community here.”.
“Through this project, we aimed to support our members and help them achieve all of their goals. And as the project has evolved, we’ve been meeting with other similar organisations, community centres and schools in the area to share our knowledge and expand our support
network even further.” she added.
Commenting on the project, Martin Ellice, Joint Managing Director of the Health Lottery said “We are always pleased to be supporting local projects that are based on empowering communities. The Reform Radio team have been doing a great job in making sure that the young adults of the community are receiving the guidance they need to fulfil their goals and reach their true potentials for a brighter future”.
