With an increase of coronavirus cases across the capital, Ealing Council drafted in young people from the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme to help with its COVID-19 messaging to the general public.
The NCS programme, run in partnership with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, offers young people aged 15-17 the opportunity to take part in a unique social action project in their local community. The young people developed short videos that highlighted the importance of wearing face coverings, social distancing and to isolate if local residents displayed any COVID-19 symptoms.
With a number of the young people involved able to speak a second language, they also translated the public health messages into Tamil, Urdu and Arabic for Ealing residents.
An example of the video is displayed above, which was made by a young person that attends Bollo Brook Youth Centre.
Councillor Binda Rai, cabinet member for public health and adult services, said: “We really value this collaboration with young people through the NCS programme because it is so important that we hear what they have to say and this collaboration allows us to do just that. It is also important for us to share their experiences of life during the pandemic.
“I’d like to thank everyone that’s taken part and please do watch their videos and follow the latest public health guidance, so that we can all work together to keep Ealing and London safe.”
Prabhpreet, team leader of the programme, said: “It was great working with Ealing Council as it made us aware of their effort to tackle the spread of the virus. Having a focus group enabled us to understand what young people were thinking about during the pandemic and we drafted our messages based on their ideas.”
Along with its NCS programme, Brentford FC Community Sports Trust has provided a number of online activities for children and young people in the borough during the pandemic. Its successful #BeeatHome campaign included supporting young carers who were struggling with the impact of the lockdown.
