On 7 July, we held a Virtual meet-up with 16 of our amazing Key Facilitators over Zoom – it was a great chance to catch-up and share ideas across our network as we start to emerge from lockdown. We particularly looked at ways in which The Key Framework can be a great way of engaging young people during these unprecedented times, focusing on two key areas – Using The Key Virtually and Using The Key in a Detached setting.

We shared tips on how to use The Key Framework Virtually, covering potential virtual project ideas, the practicalities of meeting safely as a group and running Virtual panels. We really believe that The Key Framework can still work brilliantly in a virtual setting and prove an effective way of engaging young people as the sector looks to adapt to post-lockdown conditions. 

As we emerge from lockdown, one of the way the sector appears to be adapting is by seeing a real increase in detached youth work. The Key Framework actually began all the way back in 1992 as the brainchild of detached youth workers and social researchers and so we see this trend as an opportunity for The Key to go back to its roots and be used as originally intended all those years ago. While he framework has remained unchanged, almost 30 years on, we have the advantage of technology which can be utilised so that groups can plan, pitch and partake in projects via a combination of virtual and detached methods. 

We plan to run another session in August and we would love to hear what theme you would like us to focus on then. Please click this link to complete a short 1 minute survey to share your thoughts on the next theme.

We look forward to seeing you all at the next virtual meet-up but in the meantime, please do get in touch if there’s any way we can support you in the meantime to get projects up and running. Jack and Una are available and on hand to help and support you.