What we've done so far

Make Your Mark 2020

In 2020's Make Your Mark campaign, your top three local issues were:

• Homelessness
• Domestic violence
• Access to training and jobs

The top three national issues were:

• Transforming education
• Mental health
• Plastic pollution

We launched the following campaigns to tackle these issues.

Mental health

We ran a research project where we asked young people in Norfolk what changes they need to see in society to have a better experience. We put our finding in a report which was shared with decision makers across Norfolk. The County Council is using this information to improve wellbeing services within schools. If you would like a copy of the report email ypm@norfolk.gov.uk.

We joined the  Young Minds Fund the Hubs campaign, which calls for a network of early support hubs across the country. We wrote to our MPs asking them to support the campaign.

Plastic pollution

UK Youth Parliament launched the Stop Plastic Pollution campaign. We wrote to our MPs asking them to set laws to end the use of non-essential plastic by 2025.

We are working with the County Council's Waste Reduction Team to get drinking water fountains installed across Norfolk. This will make it easier for people to refill their reusable bottles and reduce the amount of waste from single-use plastic bottles.

We promoted the Swap2Save campaign in schools across Norfolk. Schools that pledged their support for the campaign received a grant to help them reduce their plastic waste. They were also entered into a competition to win £150 of books about climate change, with Northgate High School being the lucky winners.

Free university and inclusive education

We ran a survey asking young people in Norfolk how we could make education more inclusive. Their top three concerns about education were:

• Stress
• Lack of support for students
• Too much homework

They told us that their vision for a more inclusive education system includes:

• Free university
• Fewer standardised tests
• More choice over which topics to study 

Homelessness

We wanted to get a better understanding of homelessness for young people in Norfolk. To do this we:

• Talked to local charities that support young people - like The Benjamin Foundation and YMCA Norfolk
• Ran a survey with YMCA Norfolk, asking young people to tell us about their experience of homelessness

Family breakdown was the most common cause of homelessness among the young people we spoke to.

We plan to carry on this research, finding out:

• What support is available for families
• What kind of support young people would find most helpful

Once we have this information, we'll plan the next steps of our campaign to tackle homelessness.

We have received lots of money for new family hubs. The money will be used to give families early help.

One of the main aims of family hubs will be to offer support to reduce parental conflict.