Launch of The Big Conversation Flintshire

We are very excited to be carrying out ‘The Big Conversation’ in Flintshire in partnership with the Civic Mission Team at Wrexham University. We want young people aged between 18-21 to let us know what life is like for them and what might make it better.

Over the course of January, our team will be working across various locations in Flintshire, talking to young people and the wider community.

Spread the word! We want to talk to as many young people as possible! We can’t wait to get started. The team are all briefed and raring to go.

The Big Conversation in Flintshire follows on from the success of a similar campaign in Wrexham two years ago.

Ali Wheeler, CEO of Wrexham-based WeMindTheGap, said: “We need to find and then to talk to young people in Flintshire.”

“We want to get inside the heads and hearts of those people whose lives and education were so rudely disrupted by Covid19, and as a society we are not doing enough to reach and communicate with those young people.”

“We started the first Big Conversation in Wrexham two years ago because we were re-emerging from Covid and we weren’t seeing the numbers of young people being referred to WeMindTheGap that we normally would have been. “

“The research highlighted that 46% of young people said they are experiencing loneliness despite reengaging in education since the pandemic, while 37% said they’d lost interest in education and one in three said they have given up on the things that they enjoyed before Covid”.

“Many young people also shared that they feel they lack the social skills such as resilience, motivation and initiative to be part of the workplace, and so are finding it difficult to find, secure and stay in work.”

“At the same time employers were telling us that young people were harder to find to recruit and retain in employment. They told us what their challenges and barriers were to employing young people.”

“The interesting thing about carrying out this conversation in Flintshire, is that the young people who are now 18 to 21, would have been 14 to 17 during Covid.

“That’s usually when we all transition into our communities, into our next steps in life, finding work experience – that was completely stopped for this particular group of young people.”

“Due to a lack of opportunity to gain experience, it’s impossible to understand what the world of work is like.”

“We need to do something differently now to ensure a brighter future for our young people and it starts with the Big Conversation in Flintshire.”

The WeMindTheGap team, partnered with Wrexham University Civic Mission team, will be heading out to meet young people from the 12^th January, across Flintshire. You can access dates and locations here.  There is also the option to complete a very brief online survey: The Big Question

The Big Conversation in Flintshire is being funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and supported by Flintshire County Council.

Wrexham University Civic Mission team is supporting the Big Conversation and will be helping WeMindTheGap with community engagement for the campaign.

For more information about the Big Conversation in Flintshire, contact Laura Columbine at laura@wemindthegap.org.uk