Project Tech-Blackpool Youth for Social Good

Hi my name is Darren and I am the Development Worker for Young Lives Blackpool (CIC). I think when most people think of Blackpool they envision the bright lights of the illuminations, the piers, the Pleasure Beach and all the fun that can be had in our beautiful but slightly broken little town.  The reality is that for lots of young people the reality is in stark contrast to the images provoked. Blackpool suffers from many economic and social determinants that are often generational that blight our beautiful home. Blackpool for a lot of young people just isn't a great place to grow up, statistically speaking Blackpool is the most deprived district in the Index of Multiple Deprivation against all local authorities in England. The young people in town had their say recently via our surveys and reiterated the point that the vast majority struggle in one aspect or multiple aspects of living here. Young Lives Blackpool aim to help change this view by involving young people in matters that concern them by involving them in discussions made about them. We also acknowledge that young people tend to put themselves into societal silos they rarely deviate from and that is where our brand OVTOG.org comes in. Firstly however here is some information about the website , how it will affect the financial wellbeing, how the funds will be spent and how we will measure impact. 

The improvement of the website will help to meet the financial wellbeing of our young people by addressing the following

• Blackpool has wards where over 40% of young people living in actual poverty some of whom have a marketable talent which they can monetize. At the moment there is no conduit for them to show off their skills that is free and localized. It is our intention to highlight their work and equip them to be future entrepreneurs by offering if needed financial acuity skills which will be outsourced through ourselves and run by the local college or training providers. This may also assist in getting NEETS (not in education, employment, or training ) back into the workforce.
• Provide meaningful opportunities going forward to work with us on the project in a paid capacity. Our fervent hope is that OVTOG and Young Lives Blackpool become major employers in the online retail space.

The website

The sole purpose of the website is as a conduit for not only local talent but building financial acumen amongst its young people. The site will be multifaceted and students through ought the town can work on whatever aspects they wish with a particular interest in the promotion of both the 'Participation Group' where they will assign and  account for funds that come in and out of the website choosing what the funds are used for and planning financial projections for mini projects. Also with the functionality built in for young people to promote their own talents within the 'Creatives' part of the website, this we hope will create an entrepreneurial spirit amongst Blackpool youth and provide opportunities for them to learn about financial wellbeing, budgeting and target setting. This we hope will enable them to become more financially independent as they will set targets and goals which we can then 'Shout out' about on their behalf. This goes to further prove the efficacy of the project.

Another aspect of the website is one where we are creating pioneers to work on it from our youth cohort. This may be from existing student bodies via a project or standalone individuals that wish to work on the website for example NEET young people or hose that need volunteering on their CV's. We are already working in partnership with local colleges, universities, schools and individuals to ascertain their place in the project or where further they can help.

Financial breakdown

In order to capture the imagination of the young people we wish to be involved in the project we need the website to look as good as possible. The first few seconds spent on a website usually denotes whether you choose to engage further, therefore from the start we need a website that is visually stunning and speaks to its audience the costs for this element are below.

• £300 per month -£3600 per Anum-5year project total cost 18000

Marketing-We will utilize Google for non profits and their £10000 per month offering but will need local marketing with a modest proposed costs of £7000 over five years

Impact measurement

The evidence for the uplift and visibility of the website will be in the numbers of people visiting and how they navigate the website. We will pay particular attention in regards to the creatives part of the webpage as this is the part that will resonate with young people and assist them to take control of their own financial future. There will will be detailed information on each solo project on the site and we will ask for regular updates how individual enterprises are progressing to capture the efficacy of the web based offer. We may also ask each individual to set a financial target that is reachable and ask permission to highlight when they have met or exceeded their target. This will provide further evidence that the project is working. We will also integrate ongoing financial training offers. Although the creatives part of the website will initially be for Blackpool youth we will not turn away people from other areas. This means the reach of the project as a whole has a deeper impact on communities that suffer from economic disadvantage.

The original idea for OVTOG website came about because I watched a documentary where a young man describing himself as 'Goth' talked openly about the struggles he had in integrating with his peers, even though the only difference was his clothing. He stated he felt he could 'Only be seen by people like him'. As a parent this bothered me and I went away and thought about it and came up with a play on the young mans words which was 'Only Visible To Other Ghosts' or OVTOG for short. The idea behind the brand is its playful nature and the fact it can be worn by anybody. The purpose of this is to start conversations where they might not have been, friendships where they didn't exist and create a unity amongst young people which is so needed at the moment. But how does this fit in with Blackpool as a whole?

The funds from the website in there entirety go to projects chosen by our young people in our 'Participation Group' on issues or initiatives they want to see in the town. They get to choose where 100% of the profit goes. Not only this and because of the economic dynamics of the town some of our young people live close to the breadline. With this in mind we have an option on the website for the young people to show their talents through our Creatives Corner through their socials and financially benefit from this by showing the word their marketable talents, even if they are in direct competition we don't care just want to see the flourish. There may even be a chance in the future where we can provide funds to get them started through the sales on the website. The website at the moment is not optimized and has minimal marketing power. What the funds will allow us to do is futureproof it and ensure that going forward we are not only providing the best experience for our visitors, but the best chance of selling more products so the youth of the town can  show the word how brilliant they are when they engage in the social projects they want to see. The young people of Blackpool are proud and don't want a hand out just a hand up, to be seen and to be valued. With your help we can achieve this . Thank you.