Youth Engagement Project officers Laura Peach and Rosana Cox are working with the St Ives Town Deal to ensure that young people in the town become more involved with and benefit from the programme.

Jointly funded by the Deal Board and St Ives Town Council, the new role is designed to give young people a real voice in the future of their town. The duo, who are based within the council, will be reaching out to young people aged between 11 and 25, both in the town and adjoining communities. As well as linking young people in with each of the nine Town Deal projects, they will also be working across wider parish youth initiatives.

Emma Gibson, head of culture and community, said: “Engaging young people is a huge priority for the Town Council. Just before the pandemic we hosted the first Youth Summit for West Cornwall which showed the importance of ensuring that young people have a say in the decisions which will shape their future”.

“We want our young people to be at the heart of the Town Deal programme. This means listening to their views and acting on what they are telling us. Rosana and Laura have a key role to play in helping everyone in the town to work together to achieve this.”

Laura and Rosana, who joined the Town Council in June, both have backgrounds in education and are looking forward to using their experience in working with children and young people to make a real difference to their lives and the future of the town.  

“We know that young people often feel that no one is listening to them and they are just on the sidelines” said Laura. “We want young people in St Ives to feel that they are part of our town.

“One of our key aims is to show young people in St Ives that the Town Deal programme is working for them by making the funding more accessible and relevant “ added Rosana. “This means ensuring that the projects are ‘youth proofed’ and using their funding to engage with and provide things for young people to do.”

Laura has taught art, design and technology and engineering in secondary schools as well as staging art clubs and workshops in the community. 18 months ago, she started a club at St Ives Library to teach children about artists and experiment with different materials and media.

She said: “Living in St. Ives, you can see that there are lots of opportunities for young people, but sometimes you just need someone to get things together to make them happen. “

Mum of four Rosana also taught a range of humanities subjects, together with politics, economics and public services courses in secondary schools and adult education. More recently she has worked in farming and food sustainability, running an events venue which also provided courses for young adults experiencing anxiety around climate change and environmental issues.

She explains: “As well as my background in education, I've got a particular passion for music and poetry. I have already seen that there is a huge enthusiasm in this town for performing arts and I am looking forward to working with young people in a creative and artistic capacity outside the education setting.

“But in particular, I'm really excited to be asking young people what they want. I am strongly committed to empowering young people, to have their own voice, so they have a platform and a foundation where they can feel respected members of their community”.

During the past few weeks, the duo have visited the local secondary school and met with Town Deal Board members and Town Councillors, as well as holding initial meetings with the leads of the Town Deal projects.

As the role is a job share, they are each liaising with different projects. Rosanna is working with Kidz R Us, the Community Orchard, The Guildhall, LiveWest and the Low Carbon Transport Strategy project team, with Laura working with Leach Pottery, Digital Trail, Old Vicarage Flats, the Rugby Club housing project and the Enterprise Grants scheme.

“Our aim is to make all these projects more relevant and accessible for young people and ensure that they are delivering outcomes which will benefit them in the future” said Rosana. “Our first task is to ask young people what it is that they would like us to do. As this is a new role, we want to make sure that we're using our time to create things that they're actually going to be interested in engaging with”. 

“I think Rosana and I are going to be a great team. Together we can build new and positive relationships,  and ensure that the buildings and spaces we’re creating are a lasting legacy for the young people in St. Ives” added Laura.