Equal Vision aims to increase the visibility and amplify the voices of young people in Merseyside. We do this to foster an understanding about the way structural conditions shape outcomes and experiences.
Our aim is to work strategically and collaboratively to contribute to positive life outcomes. We create quality research opportunities for young people to influence policy and practice in Merseyside. Too often young people are not given a voice about the decisions which have a direct implication on their lives. Equal Vision aims to change this paradigm.
“We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future ”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Current project
Addressing the Root Causes (ARC) of mental ill-health.
Our ARC project is not focused on the way mental healthcare is delivered. Equal Vision believes that when young people access mental healthcare, earlier opportunities to prevent this happening have been missed. We seek to identify the best mechanisms to build the resilience of our young people, while improving disadvantageous conditions. This is addressing the root causes.
Phase 1 ARC: Locating Toxteth in the Context of Structural Inequalities
With thanks to funding from the National Lottery and Torus Foundation, phase 1 of ARC has now been completed. This has involved looking at structural inequalities in Toxteth and comparing this with Liverpool and National indicators. Findings from this work can be viewed in our desk-based research report or mini-documentary.
ARC Phase 1 Mini Video Documentary
ARC Phase 1, Desk-Based Research
Phase 2 ARC – The Lived Experience
ARC phase 2 has now commenced. Activities will be taking place at our new space at Kuumba Imani. We’ll be carrying out original research, looking at how structural inequalities directly impact the lives of young people in L8. If you’re interested in taking part please get in touch. We’re also recruiting student volunteers to carry out discrete research projects.
Previous projects
Looking back, moving forward; young people’s perspective on the Covid pandemic.
Looking back, moving forward was our young leader’s project. It was co-created with young people to reflect on the challenges presented by the pandemic and to discuss the opportunities and barriers that lie ahead. Young people were directly involved in developing the audio transcripts and narrating the documentary.
“Youth engagement can positively impact young people’s life satisfaction ”
James Laurence
Youth in2 Research
Equal Vision’s ‘Youth in2 Research’ project, funded by Awards for All of the National Lottery, looked at community cohesion – we had a key focus on racial hate crime. We were proud to partner with the national Standby Me rollout and to team up with academics from the University of Nottingham to provide young people with skill-based research and policy opportunities.
“We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends ”
Mary McLeod Bethune
Youth In2 Research built on previous collaboration with Sculptuk (formerly IARS), recruiting young participants for the Liverpool arm of their research, to develop an evidence-based report around race hate crime in Liverpool.
Young Person’s Community Research and Activism
In 2016-2017 we delivered our first funded project. Phase One of the project offered young people two days of community activism training to highlight their key interests and concerns. This session facilitated discussion to gain a better understanding of issues young people express across different areas, showing the importance of the criminal justice system (policing), health (mental health) and education (schooling).
Phase two of the project built upon this by delivering five days of training focused on research design, methods and ethics. This allowed young people to carry out their own research into an area of interest to them, that was identified in phase One. After the data was collected a further two days of training was provided showing the young people how to carry out data analysis and how to present research findings.
“We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values ”
Tony Benn.