News

New look for Fight for Peace: A People Powered Place

Jean Gray on a Newham charity’s redesigned space

Newham residents voting for projects to receive funding
(Credit – Newham Council)

In the final weeks of 2024 Newham youth charity Fight for Peace completed a redesign of the central hub area of its academy as part of Newham’s People Powered Places programme.

The project aimed to evolve Fight for Peace’s hub into a more welcoming and comfortable space for young people, parents and visitors alike and a team of eight young people and staff was assembled to tackle this ambitious task. 

“Young people have been expressing the need for a more fit for purpose hub space for some time, and so it was a great opportunity to put some much needed work into this area,” said Head of Operations James Morgan, who was part of the project’s steering group. 

“Working together as a group of young people and staff allowed us to create a space that really represented our collective needs,” he added.

“I am very grateful to have been a part of the hub redesign as I can see how it has impacted Fight for Peace positively as a whole,” said Ashlei, who is part of the Youth Power youth leadership group at Fight for Peace. “It’s also really nice to see how our ideas were turned into a reality in the new hub.”

Among the top priorities of the project were to build connection and comfort. To this end, an extensive new sofa and eight cube stools, a large table and smaller coffee tables were purchased.  Entertainment was another consideration and a large flat screen TV and a football table were installed.

Finally, the space continued to reflect the much treasured Fight for Peace brand, with the furniture colours all representing the organisation’s brand colours. And the entire hub space was given a fresh lick of paint.

“This project taught me consistency and the ability of actually working together,” said Aziza, who is part of Youth Power and the project’s steering group. “My voice was heard and listened to. When some of my ideas were shown into the final piece of the hub I felt important and taken seriously. It gave me a chance to feel more involved.”

The hub redesign was one of 120 projects funded by the People Powered Places programme in 2023. These successful projects were chosen from a total of 366 applications via a public vote involving some 10,000 residents. 

The launch of the new hub coincided with Fight for Peace’s 2024 Annual Awards, a fitting ceremony for young people to test out what the reinvigorated space had to offer. A spokesperson thanked everyone who had voted for the Fight for Peace Project and also Newham Council which funded the People Powered Places Programme.


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