For over a decade, The Box has been a dedicated partner of The Key, supporting young people to take the lead on meaningful projects through the KEY+ Challenge. Read on to find out, from Nick, how the programme has transformed opportunities for young people at The Box.
For The Box, the KEY+ Challenge is all about: “giving young people something to work towards whilst at the youth club.”
For the last two years, The Box have dedicated a night to doing KEY+ projects. They said “young people can work with other groups and get ideas from other groups. And when they’ve been organising things, they’ve been able to call on other young people and ask what they would like to do.” This dedicated night has made the young people committed to KEY+ and “want to see it through to the end.”
KEY+ makes a difference to the young people at The Box by giving them a real voice in decision-making: “Having their input into what they want to do and having a voice […] they’re at the heart of those decisions.”
And the programme enhances provision at The Box by giving young people a reason to engage and take ownership: “It’s not often young people get the opportunity to be a part of decision making and to be able to choose how money is spent, so for us it’s like dangling a carrot in front of them to come in and get involved.”
When we asked The Box what they like the most about the KEY+ Challenge, they said that they like the way it’s structured: “the process they go through makes it good rather than just getting the money and doing the project… they get more out of it when they are held to account with making sure they do the paperwork and things like that.”
“It’s something we’ve noticed recently that they’ve liked being able to look back on what they’ve done and their skills and how they’ve rated themselves. They’ve got to stage 3 and can’t believe they’ve scored themselves so high when that was a weaker skill.”
“For us, The Key is stepping stone for what could be next […it’s a] stepping stone to volunteer or, even as we’ve found with some who have competed The Key, have gone on to get paid work and started their journey as youth workers. It’s a stepping stone for young people.”
Facilitators at The Box also enjoy seeing the results of young people’s work: “We always enjoy when they get told they can have the money from their idea […] their reaction when told yes is just brilliant.”
“We also enjoyed when the kids have been nominated for the awards as well and coming along to the awards because it’s always like the kids see the bigger picture then and see they are part of something else; it’s not just them working on something at The Box, there’s other people doing similar things.”
Nick from The Box also gave some advice to other organisations considering becoming a Key Partner and delivering the KEY+ Challenge: “At the beginning getting across to young people the benefits of it and what they get out of it and making them understand what they are committing to at the beginning… that for us is the most important thing as a facilitator.”
“And it’s not just rewarding for the kids it’s rewarding for the staff as well. They see everyone’s ideas coming to life and their ideas can be a lot more creative than what the staff come up with. [So] listen to the groups, they come up with some brilliant ideas that just need channelling in the right way.”
With over 10 years as a partner, The Box has delivered 64 projects and supported over 250 young people through the KEY+ Challenge – a testament to the value of giving young people a voice, opportunities to lead, and the tools to make a real difference.
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