Report on Newham Opportunity Areas Strategies

We are pleased to share our report summarising the work UCLPartners completed with young people and community organisations in Newham in 2023 and 2024, exploring two key opportunity areas:

• How might we support existing communities and activities that young people rely on for their wellbeing?
• How might we support the wellbeing of young people that are directly and indirectly impacted by the threat or presence of violence and crime?

You can read about the co-designs developed by the young people in more detail in our blogs:

• Co-design strategies: Life skills for young people
• Co-design strategies: Increasing access to youth spaces

Key Themes

The bulk of the report explores the key themes that were identified by young people through the sessions and how these impact on their mental health and wellbeing. These themes are:

• Poverty and finances, and the impact that young people when their families are struggling financially
• Learning and development opportunities and how they are key to having choices but are out of reach for many
• Support networks and how they are critical to wellbeing but have complex dynamics
• Schools and how they are not always supportive environments for all
• Experiences of community activities and how they benefit young people’s mental health and wellbeing
• But that there are barriers preventing young people accessing community activities and spaces
• Safety in Newham and how young people do not feel safe
• Policing and the lack of trust many young people have in the police

Summary

Our summary identifies three key areas for action:

Access and Location: Time, costs, and feeling unsafe influence how, and to what extent, young people feel able to travel across Newham to access opportunities

Cost of Living: Increased living costs are destabilising young people’s support networks and living environments, with some shouldering increased responsibility

Choices: Having opportunities to learn new skills, find mentors, and develop support networks offers young people choices

Above: Niran Rehill. Contact: Nirandeep.Rehill@uclpartners.com