What is Big Boro Big Eats we hear you say?
It is the Summer Programme that we have developed and run with two fantastic youth organisations in Middlesbrough; Linx Youth Project and Youth Focus: North East. Using the magic recipe of a youth worker and a chef we have taken our passion for food and food education to give young people the chance to learn about nutrition and making healthy choices and have access to real, fresh and nutritious food and how to prepare it. This was a six-week pilot project to help young people to develop personally, socially and educationally. As well as giving young people the opportunity to find out more about great food, they had the chance to take part in social action as they served the food they produced into the communities they live in.
Social Action
Working with their youth workers, and in our Linx partnership with Chef Michelle, the young people took pride in serving members of the community, including foodbank users, homeless people, PCSOs and their own families, building stronger community connections and bringing people together.
Big Boro Big Eats enabled us to feed hungry children, families, battle holiday hunger and give a relaxing and judgement free zone to offer people some food.
Youth Hubs – Plans for the Future
Big Boro Big Eats has been laying the foundations in programming, partnership and locations for us as we think about our ambition for the future to open youth hubs, amazing safe spaces for young people supported and developed by talented youth workers. We want to work in close partnerships with existing organisations in this space, to harness expertise to provide a sustainable resource for the community.
Our first location after much research is Middlebrough, it is a fantastic area full of potential and the Foundation seeks to support local organisations as they address the unique challenges faced by young people in the community, providing them with a safe and inclusive space to spend time to skills that will prepare them for their next steps into employment, independence and education.
