Tuesday, March 3, morning started off rocky. Fighting jet lag and minimal sleep from waking up in the middle of the night, we charged up with some breakfast and granular coffee (due to lack of coffee machine to filter the grinds) and set off into the world of London. We wanted to make sure we gave ourselves enough time to arrive at London Youth for our meeting so set off early and arrived with enough time to enjoy a delicious second coffee beforehand at the cafe Friends of Ours down the street. Walking into the building that houses London youth, we entered a friendly and welcoming space. We were greeted with a warm face at reception who called down our contact. Sophie Hewitt, the Head of Youth Action, was a bright and exuberant woman with electric blue nails we both admired. She graciously gave us an hour and a half of her time as we talked about London Youths role in the City as a funder, collaborator, and quality assurer for the 550 agencies they have signed up as member agencies.

One of the main things they do is administer three different levels of "quality marks" - training for London’s youth serving non-profits to encourage organizations to uphold high standards of facilitation and engagement with their young people. Agencies can progress through bronze, silver and gold levels to qualify for different levels of recognition, funding and training.

In addition to this they also provide multiple funding streams of their own, both large and small, for agencies offering programming, as well as youth with advocacy or leadership initiatives who want to pitch ideas for their micro grants. The various sectors which include Sports development, Employability, Youth Social Action, Arts and Culture, and Outdoor Education, are overseen by different staff at London Youth. We drew parallels between their work and some of the services offered by our own Calgary Afterschool and Calgary Foundation in some of the things they coordinate, fund, inspire and foster. Lastly, they also have additional resources such as overnight lodging camps that their members can take advantage of with their groups.

On our way out we crossed paths with Robbie, friend by proxy through our partner Danielle Fitzpatrick (What Feeds Us co facilitator, the Alex Community Food Centre). Danielle had coincidentally gone home to the UK for a visit the week before us. Perhaps we had crossed paths at a distance on our flights over the Atlantic Ocean as she was returning home and we were arriving.

Modelling some Spitalfields fashion .jpg

After, we attempted to follow directions from Robbie but ended up getting quite turned around in Islington. After a few consultations of the map and some chats with locals, we made our way to Spitalfields Market, a large indoor arts and crafts market with vendors hawking all sorts of creative wears. We stopped to enjoy a traditional lunch of meat pies and fish and chips at The English Restaurant across the way before a thorough winding tour of the nearby vintage market on Brick Lane. A few hours later, we emerged equipped with sequin jackets, a 90’s Zip Up, leggings and slouchy trousers, among other treats. Islington is known for its street art and graffiti so we hosted ourselves a little self-guided tour of the local art on our way back to the tube station, stopping only to take many photos and stock up on way too much mind meltingly delicious chocolate from a local chocolatier.

Arriving home around 9 pm, we whipped up some dinner, enjoyed an in-house fashion show sporting our newly quired acquisitions, and binged on chocolate as we planned the following days more thoroughly while reflecting on the day and morning visit. A nice end to a lovely day.

Visiting London Youth, Tuesday March 3rd