Themes

The Hackney Pirates (now The Literacy Pirates) was started because a lack of literacy is a block to young people's ability to be active citizens. But as it happens, active citizenship isn't just the ends we should be aiming for with literacy.......it's the means as well. By building on existing local strengths, you can both improve learning and build community.

Working together with The Relationships Project, we explored young people's experience of covid - in particular their relationships with adults, with each other and with society at large. We learned about what young people learned from the pandemic, what they need - and what kind of a society they want to contribute to.

If democracy is going to survive and flourish, we need to innovate it to be fit for today's opportunities and challenges. Together with Challenge Works, we explored how challenge prizes can accelerate the kind of innovations that we need to see.

To feel in control of our lives, we need agency over the economic forces affecting our jobs, our life choices and our communities. That's increasingly difficult in a heavily globalised and monopolised economy - but not impossible. Citizen power is essential for building an economy that works better for people and planet.