To give our young people the opportunity to tell us what they want for their age group in the community, we set up a youth group. They named it Diversity 2 Unity (D2U).

So far they have asked for:

• A skatepark. Tick! For years our young people had been asking for their own skatepark. We listened and supported them to made it happen. We put in £100,000 and made sure the youngsters had the chance to be involved in all the decisions. They worked with their preferred design company to get it right. It had to be or they wouldn’t use it. We heard them! The Sita Trust and Ipswich Borough Council also provided funding.
• Open Mic events. Tick! We’ve been holding those since the summer of 2016 and they are getting increasingly popular!
• Bowling. Tick! We had a great time at Bear’s Bowling
• Radio Westbourne Community Hour. Tick! The BLT funded radio equipment at Westbourne Academy is now being used by the wider community to interview some really interesting people from war veterans, Councillors, the Mayor and many more
• Inter schools Bake Off Competition-planned for March/April
• Improvements to be made to the play equipment in local parks. We brought along a local Police Officer for them to report concerns and brought it to the attention of the NW Ipswich Area Committee (IBC). We are also talking with the IBC Parks department and the Friends of NW Ipswich Open Spaces group
• And more…

They make the decisions: D2U is led by the young people for young people!

D2U meet monthly, currently at Westbourne Academy but we hope to hold some at Ormiston Academy in the future. Everyone between the ages of 12-25 living in Whitehouse, Castle Hill and Whitton are welcome. It’s completely free and a safe environment. We have Teachers, DRB checked youth workers and of course, us.

Check out their Facebook page too