The Young Person's Guide to East London

Young people from London's East End have found a collective voice through an innovative new Inspiring Voices award-winner, The Young Person's Guide to East London.

Made by young people, for young people, the guide provides a unique and vibrant portrait of an area that's home to a generation who sometimes struggle to get their voices heard or find positive representation in a broader context. It gives them the opportunity to speak about their favourite parts of the area and address the issues that matter to them in their communities, using language that's relevant but which represents as wide a range of views as possible.

Unlike any other existing publication, the guide offers an insight into the East End through the eyes of the young people who live there and encourages the engagement of those who might otherwise feel disaffected. Those who've taken part in the creative process have learned valuable new digital media skills, but have also received a boost to their confidence, self-esteem and sense of pride in their own neighbourhoods.

13-year-old Yemisi, who took part in the pilot project, says it's: '...a chance to say what we really think of our area... you get people coming round wearing blue bandanas and they shoot each other and it's like north, east, south, west, like war, so I was thinking we could tell them what the scene's like in Canning Town and ExCel – what it's really about.'

Outreach workshops have brought together 160 young people but with the 2012 Olympics bringing the East End to the worldwide stage, the potential for the project to grow throughout the region and beyond is real and exciting. Participants become inspired when they see what others have done and even the most disenfranchised become engaged when they see the possibility for having a real say in describing and promoting their local area.

The Young Person's Guide to East London is a cSPACE initiative. A charitable company based at the Docklands campus of the University of East London, cSPACE works with young people in the visual arts and media.

Visit the project's website here