London chiefs and South London’s inspirational leaders at ceremony to mark Day of Hope in memory of Damilola Taylor

A service at Southwark Cathedral on Tuesday December 7 marked the Day of Hope for 2021, which celebrated the legacy and birthdate of Damilola Taylor.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Commissioner of Police Cressida Dick were among those speaking at the ceremony.

The celebration of Damilola’s life and legacy included performances from Heather Small – who sang “Proud” the anthem of the London 2012 Olympics – and Jermain Jackman, winner of the BBC Voice competition.

The event was organised by the Hope Collective, a newly constituted partnership cohort that came together to help manage the Damilola Taylor Trust 20th anniversary campaign.

Its members include UK Youth, National Citizenship Service (NCS) the Coop, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and all the violence reduction units (VRUs) from across the UK including that of London.

The Hope Collective has committed to run the Day of Hope annually after it was granted official status as a day of youth social action by Prime Minister, Boris Johnston, last year. He also staged a reception in honour of the Collective and the Damilola Taylor Trust.

The collective has colossal objectives: it has also undertaken to stage the biggest ever needs assessment into what young people think a fairer society would look like.

The chair of the Hope Collective youth leadership team, Tyrell Davis-Douglin, explained: “The establishment is calling it levelling up but what we want to see is a fairer society.

One where young people of all colours, creeds and social class have access to equal opportunity. One where poverty and inequality is negated by better social infrastructures.”

The collective carried out a series of what they call “Hope Hacks” around the UK this year – their team visited Manchester, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff after staging the first here in South London at Lilian Baylis Technology school in Vauxhall.

The programme’s executive director Gary Trowsdale, once chief executive of the Damilola Taylor Trust, said: “The Hope Hacks were a tremendous success in the way they were facilitated with grass roots organisations in each local area in partnership with the local VRU and most impressively in the way they were formatted by the NCS event teams.

We used the hashtag #ChangingTheConversation” because that was what young people had been telling us needed to happen for the longest time.

“Kids are fed up with being force fed a narrative of knife crime, drugs and violence when they want to talk about solutions to the root causes – poverty and inequality.

“The collective is now becoming a constituted body so we can continue the work to find solutions to poverty and inequality.

“After successfully negotiating the Pilot Five-City Hope hack tour this year we are embarking on a national programme of 23 Hope Hacks across the UK.”

Mr Davis Douglin added: “Everything comes back to poverty and inequality. Not only is there a lack of resources out and services there for young people to consume.

We don’t know where they are about. Coming from the Brixtons, Peckhams and Croydons, what is there out there for us to rehabilitate ourselves?

“It’s about young people coming forward and saying ‘This is what a better city looks like from my perspective’ and saying to the people in that are in charge and can bring it about, this is what needs to happen if you are going to stop the crime and violence that emanates from not tackling the root cause!”

Also in attendance at the Day of Hope service was Tinie – formerly Tinie Tempah and once a resident of the Aylesbury Estate and Plumstead – who added: “Hope gives us the endurance to continue to live.

Especially coming from where we come from, if we don’t have hope, then what do we have?”

The Hope Collectives aims are set out in its mission statement on its website, which reads: “We are driven by a shared purpose – to establish real change that enables UK’s most vulnerable communities to be free from poverty, violence and discrimination.

“We will co-design solutions that deliver for young people, amplifies their voices and focusses on their hopes for the future. We will bring our networks together to create long term solutions that engage communities and influence policy making to affect positive change.

 “Through the Hope Collective young people can contribute their thoughts on issues that affect them, their lives and their communities.

Our goal is to ‘change the narrative’ for young people and focus on solutions, not symptoms, and importantly on their hopes for the future.”
www.Hopecollectiveuk.com