Young Mayor manifestos

Vivian Akinremi

As a young person living in this generation, I believe that young people need a voice to represent them amongst the influential people within society and I am prepared to be the voice of reason and change, that my fellow peers need.

One of the key issues I believe affects the youth in Tower Hamlets is generational misconceptions. I believe there needs to be more cohesion between the older generation and the younger generation in society. I believe that the younger generation can learn a lot from the mistakes of the past, but also develop themselves personally based on the advice and life experiences that the older generation harbours.

Comparatively, I also believe that the younger generation can dissolve the misconceptions that may be held over our heads. Another key issue that I believe exists in Tower Hamlets is the lack of careers advice for young people. Instead of having one 30-minute session with a careers advisor, specialised workshops should be put in place in every secondary school within Tower Hamlets, so that young people can be informed on the specific routes they need to take from professionals in the desired careers they want to achieve.

The last key issue that I would tackle if elected as young mayor is to empower the female community within schools in Tower Hamlets. The programme would be called ‘Girls with Goals’ which would consist of inviting successful and influential women to speak on the challenges they’ve overcome, career paths and so much more. Through this we could influence young girls, mothers, aunts and grandmothers to stand in solidarity on who they are as women, young and old alike.

Jaami Barry

Do you deserve better? Do you have the emotional and mental support for the challenges ahead? Are you at your physical best? Do you have the guidance you need for the career you desire?

Voting for Jaami Barry would ensure these questions aren’t left unanswered, as we’ll address them together with the ethos – educate, empower, elevate.

Mental health

A major issue around many young people across the country is mental health. As Tower Hamlets is a very diverse borough where many of our parents are migrants, our youth are often told to ‘man up’ or to ‘forget about it’. Did you know, 70% of children and young people who experience a mental health problem have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age?

As Young Mayor, this issue will be tackled with much more seriousness, and those who need closure will receive it. I’m a very approachable individual and I promise to make all of your voices heard.

Obesity

Reducing obesity is another crucial part of my plans. The percentage of adolescents aged 12-19 who were obese increased from 5% in 1980 to nearly 21% in 2012. I aim to show all young people that change can be made through a healthy, active lifestyle. Holding workshops to display the risks of obesity whilst promoting a healthier life is certainly an area I promise to challenge.

Career paths

A key aspect to my plans for being Young Mayor will be to provide much more opportunities using WorkPath. WorkPath is a unique employment service for all Tower Hamlets residents, providing support for people at all levels of work, skill or experience. Raising awareness of the scheme would provide stability from a younger age and also aid our youth in the career paths which they desire. As your ideal candidate, I am ready to unite with all of you and commit to making Tower Hamlets a happier place.

And remember – educate, empower, elevate!

Muhsin Mahmud

It would be easy for me to write about preventing drugs, taking youths off the street or even stopping gun violence from overtaking Tower Hamlets – but I’d rather to be realistic.

We aren’t old enough to legally vote, but we’re old enough to be arrested – does this appear fair to you?

Young people are overlooked in society. There is so much that we can do or say to help create a better community, we just don’t have the platform to do so. This year, I want to be that platform.

So no, I’m not going to write about the dangers of knife crime, we already know them. Instead, I’m going to ask you a question.

If somebody got stabbed, would you know what to do? No? I’m going to change that.

Our schools fail to supply opportunities for our borough’s star talents leading them to feel left inthe dark. I promise to ensure our potential athletes, actors and musicians are recognised and I’d hope to create a pathway for more work experience opportunities, tailored to talent to try to rectify this issue.

I also promise to bring greater funding from the council to guarantee more trips abroad for our youth, allowing them to step outside their comfort zone. I would advocate for more student grants to ensure younger people are familiar with managing their finances as well as supporting lower income families.

Finally, our community needs more student discounts, thus helping products and services to become more attainable to the younger generation – I promise to bring that.

My campaign is your campaign. We are the future of tomorrow, but first we need to make a change today. Your vote matters.

Ahmed Duale

Having spent my entire life in Tower Hamlets, I have seen the best of our great borough and also the lows. Equipped with this knowledge, I would like to be elected Young Mayor to transform our borough.

I believe I would make a good Young Mayor as I work well in a group and am a vocal advocate for social issues. I have great communication skills and can clearly voice my opinions. I am also creative and innovative. I also empathise with everyone. This allows me to have a have a well-rounded perspective.

Three key issues I would like to tackle if I was elected Young Mayor are knife crime, youth poverty and homelessness, and mental health/issues. The reasons I chose these three issues are:

1) I feel strongly about them.

2) They are issues which affect our everyday lives and affect every single young person in Tower Hamlets.

3) I have personal experiences withthese issues.

For example, I have done voluntary work to tackle youth poverty and I have known people who have been stabbed or were in a knife attack. To tackle these issues, I would introduce an awareness campaign/social inclusion project about knives and knife crime which are engaging and interesting in schools and youth clubs.

This would be targeted to young people aged 12-18 years old. I would hold consultations in schools and youth clubs to find out issues and solutions that young people in the borough have.

I would liketo create more services for less fortunate people in Tower Hamlets such as a street-based outreach programme to help young people who can’t access youth services. Remember, a vote for me is a vote for us.

Fairoz Faria

Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived boroughs in London.

Thisis our home’s status, what we are known for in terms of statistics. But when we, the youth, take charge and better ourselves we begin to rewrite this legacy.

The biggest issue, and the most repetitive, is crime among young people and it’s clear that it is keeping us from achieving a community that we all want. I will initiate ways to reduce levels of crime such as engaging young people with extracurricular activities and redirecting their focus on what will benefit them.

I will focus on the prevention of crime involvement, as safeguarding the youth means safeguarding our future. Everyone in Tower Hamlets has the potential to succeed.

We hear this time and time again and yet our borough, compared to others, has the highest rate of poverty, child poverty, unemployment and pay inequality of any London borough.

I believe that lack of opportunities, both academic and non-academic, has failed our young people in the past.

I know that when we are given the resources needed, we start achieving our goals. I will modify activities and experiences to make them more inclusive and accessible, whilst keeping their educational value. As young people are the future of our community, their mental wellbeing will become one of my priorities. I believe it’s an issue that can’t be overlooked and so I will eliminate the stigma of it being a taboo subject across all demographics, which can be done through constant reminders of support systems available to those who struggle with mental illnesses.

No two people are alike in our borough, but I’m sure we all carry the same consensus that change is needed for us to thrive. That change starts with us.

Juliann Gaskin

I first became aware of my passion and love for the community at the age of nine. I got involved with fundraising and community projects at my primary school.

I have had the opportunity to continue to develop this passion at secondary school. I am part of the Students Voice and the debate team at Mulberry Academy Shoreditch. I am involved in organising charity events, part of which allows me to deal with various challenges and enables me to develop my problem-solving skills and my ability to open people’s minds to new ideas. I am also passionate about lending a helping hand in the community and fixing general issues that arise.

I believe that young people are not as involved as they should be and I am committed to helping students get involved with solving issues that affect their future, like the nationwide plastic abuse.

My overall vision is to have at least 50% of the schools in Tower Hamlets plastic-free or to have an efficient recycling system in the next two years, and create an awareness of plastics and their effects on the environment. I would also work on creating more engaging clubs for young people so they can invest their time more resourcefully.

Another idea of mine is to open more centres and set up local buddies for people who are going through tough or distressing times. Like all opportunities, I am excited about a new challenge to further share my ideas and overcome community issues.

Nadia Hussein

Firstly I would like to improve the level of safety within Tower Hamlets. Sadly, it has not been the safest borough for these past years which has made it increasingly worrying for the youth that live here.

That is why I would like to improve this by finding out the roots of this safety issue. I propose this is done by carrying out engagement groups with a range of youths from within the borough. I would also like to work with the borough commander as I believe a professional and more experienced viewpoint is crucial to making the right decisions.

The other issue I would like to tackle is mental health. It is a phrase that has been frequently used in the past years, especially around youth, but has not been fully explained to them. This is something I would like to change by using education programmes across Tower Hamlets for both youth and adults.

Another important topic I would like to tackle, if given the chance, is opportunity. The youth of Tower Hamlets have a wealth of opportunity on offer but do not know how to access or fully utilise it properly.

I believe that lots of potential is wasted this way so I would like to open more doors for our youth and motivate them to move on to bigger and better things, especially the females of Tower Hamlets, as there is so much potential within them but they do not see it.

Daawood Islam

Some of the borough’s youth know about the young mayor – some don’t.

If people don’t think and see Daawood Islam as the young mayor it doesn’t bother me. It may look good on an Instagram bio or a CV but I’m not here for fame. My goal as young mayor (which I hope to be with your help) is to look after our youth and to elevate them – just like a mother who wishes well for her child, how a doctor strives to cure every patient or how a teacher wishes the best for their students (most teachers anyway).

Many of the youth feel uneasy just by walking down their street because of some ‘mandem’ that carry ‘shanks’ (I hate to be cheesy but it’s necessary) or because a man waves his outdated smartphone in innocent girls’ faces hurling insults at them like ‘rats’ and other despicable names while sounding like he was eating a pack of cigarettes.

These kind of things happen many times unnoticed. My main priority is the safety and wellbeing of my people, both physically and mentally. Therefore I would make it compulsory for all Tower Hamlets schools to hold self-defence classes and counselling sessions. We need self-defence because, honestly, how many people know how to protect themselves against attacks?

How many people have someone to talk to whenever and talk about whatever they like, especially when we go through break-ups, exam stress, family issues and more? The media says that our youth are ‘lazy’, ‘uncaring’ and ‘hate speaking out’. Therefore, I will give importance to the fact that my youth are given voices through things like social media as this is completely false. I want the youth of today to mature into the greats of tomorrow.

Why are you not voting Daawood Islam for young mayor?

Saihan Islam

Hello, my name is Saihan Islam and I am extremely keen on working with you to shape a better and more successful future.

Join me, in my quest to create what-ifs into actuality! Join me for success and join me for change!

Issues for change:

Mental Health Awareness

I am proud to say I suffer from avariety of mental health issues. This does not prevent me from striving to achieve my dreams at all. In fact it is this very key issue that drives me and I am incredibly eager to help raise awareness of mental health.

My mission is to teach others that having mental health issues does not hinder you one bit – rather, we should all support one another. I aim to work with many reputable organisations such as MIND, CAMHS and National Autistic Society to provide workshops, counsel and presentations to assemblies all across the borough.

My aim is simple – it is to empower individuals and to help raise awareness and help people who may be suffering silently. One in four adults and one in ten children experience mental illness, and many more of us know and care for people who do. (Source: NHS England)

Remove the stigma associated with body image

I would like to work with the youth and help them understand that variations in body types are acceptable and we are all uniquely beautiful. Time and time again we see the youth fixated on their appearance so much that it leads to catastrophic consequences. I want to work collaboratively with the youth and promote self-love. We are all imperfectly perfect.

Youth smoking

Peer pressure is one of the main reasons for smoking. It is a shame that while the youth think they are being cool, they are being the total opposite! I want to help tackle this and inform students of the many disadvantages this has and help maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Carlotta Joffe

I am convinced that young people can make a change.

“All for change and change for all!”

We often feel powerless. If I am elected young mayor I will give every young person a voice. Direct action is the only way progress can be made.

To improve things for young people we need to listen to them.

I would organise forums either in schools or community centres where young people can express their ideas on what should be done in Tower Hamlets. Young people ought to be put in charge more. The responsibility would make us more passionate to transform. If we come together great things can be achieved.

If we give young people responsibility, we can make them less vulnerable. Many young people join gangs to gain a level of what they believe is status or meaning in their lives. To tackle this problem I would emphasise healthy ways of coping with emotions and struggles and provide young people with positive role models and greater hope for the future.

To stop young people from joining gangs more programmes in schools and safety nets should be put in place. We need to inspire young people to aspire, by inviting successful people to schools and showing that we can do anything if we want to.

By challenging prejudices and stereotypes through community engagement we can address the issue of diversity. This would involve organising ‘diversity festivals’ and using public spaces for lectures, workshops and readings as well as publicising youth centres on offer through social media.

Youth centres would be a safe and supervised environment for us to discuss and celebrate diversity. As young mayor I would tackle all of the issues raised by young people from Tower Hamlets and put my whole heart into helping our community.

Inga Karlinska

We are the youngest we’ll ever beand I believe that that is a strong quality. That means that we have the spotlight and it’s our time to grab it. We are on the brink of becoming adults and our possibilities now influence the opportunities we have later. I believe that we need to access all possible avenues now – sadly many of us are trying and not getting what we want or even need.

I thoroughly believe that through volunteering and good use of our time we can grasp every chance that’s given to us. I plan on enabling these opportunities to our young community through working with local teams that are in dire need of volunteers and are not receiving the beneficial help of volunteering.

Volunteering is free and flexible. It looks good on a CV and helps your employability in the future. I would like to involve more young people in volunteering-based programmes that will help improve our social skills and develop us as people. This will not only help us infuture applications but it will prepareus (the youth) for the commitment that employers require.

Secondly I would like to raise more awareness of youth clubs and make them approachable. This will be a positive area for young people to get help with their studies or simply just socialise in a safe and welcoming environment. This means that the young people of Tower Hamlets will be spending their time productively.

This key issue would be resolved through raising awareness to our youth clubs. I also want our community to come together more often and celebrate our diversity in Tower Hamlets. Thank you for taking the time to improve your community by voting for me.

Umayya Rahman

Social media is evidently a powerful tool which I aim to utilise to raise awareness of current issues in Tower Hamlets.

I want to see websites created by young people for young people which raise awareness and provide advice to our youth. In particular, I would focus on knife crime in Tower Hamlets. Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of knife crime per head of all the East London boroughs, with one offence for every 290 residents.

I would use social media to raise awareness of knife crime and its detrimental effects on our borough’s individuals and families. I also aim to build creative platforms so the youth are able to experiment with art, marketing and music to express ideas and opinions on what they are passionate about.

To implement this, schools can arrange after-school clubs along with borough-wide clubs.

I am passionate about gender equality and I believe we need to create more workshops and programmes for young women. I believe girls should be encouraged to think big – specifically in science and engineering.

Young boys also need to be offered programmes and workshops as I believe there is constant societal pressure to hide or repress their emotions and feelings. Something that I’d also focus on is increasing opportunities to gain work experience and emphasising skills essential to the working world.

It is a firm belief of mine that we must provide the youth with as much guidance as possible on their future. We need to focus on interview skills and support with decisions that young people will need to make in order to reach their goals and aspirations.

If I were young mayor I would make it my priority to improve this borough into a safe place where all young people feel supported and not neglected.