Purpose

The VRU intend to fund Unity Radio to deliver programmes with 10+ young people to raise awareness of serious violence and knife crime through a series of conversations led by young people (also some workshops in varying locations where young people are).

The partnership enables young people, aged 13-17, to discuss issues relating to serious violence that affect them in several workshops, before creating content to be aired live on Unity Radio’s NGY show.

Although there are already a significant number of young people who regularly listen to the show from across GM, we are keen to continue to encourage new listeners to ensure our messaging reaches as many of our audience as possible.

Decision

The VRU is seeking to award £60,000 to Unity Radio to continue to produce and air radio content specifically aimed at young people in Greater Manchester. We will continue to use radio as an additional way of reaching more young people and young people that can be hard to reach through our existing platforms- VRU website and social channels.

This is a continuation of previous programmes of work which created high impact for young people on each programme and enabled key messaging around violence reduction, knife crime etc. to be shared with a significant number of our target audience.

Unity will deliver a number of programmes engaging 8-12 participants between the ages of 13 -17 who will achieve an accredited Arts Award.

The participants will attend weekly evening workshops and be delivered by a highly skilled, motivated and experienced team who have already delivered the previous two phases of the programme.

The young people will apply their accredited learning at the workshops into a practical experience by designing, developing and delivering live FM radio shows that will be broadcast on Unity Radio´s FM and Digital platforms.

The shows will be edited and published on www.unityradio.fm for playback and promoted across social media including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

The content of each radio show will contain features and discussion by the participants on the subject matter and related topics. The discussion will be between the young people and also include agency partners who can deliver workshops for the young people in exchange for their service being promoted on air.

In addition, Unity will utilise their studio bus (double decker) which they have funded separately, to take the interventions into communities.