Category: Gen22

United By 2022 Launches Major Events Skills Academy to Boost Youth Employment in Birmingham

Birmingham is gearing up for a new wave of opportunity for its young people as United By 2022, the legacy charity of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, partners with Birmingham City Council to launch the Major Events Skills Academy—a first-of-its-kind programme designed to connect young Brummies with real career pathways in the city’s booming events […]

Real Opportunities, Real Change: Why Our Work With Young People Matters Now More Than Ever

In the West Midlands, youth unemployment is one of the highest in the country. In Birmingham—the youngest city in Europe and one of the most deprived local authorities in England—the need for youth-focused support is urgent and growing. At the same time, public funding continues to shrink, and opportunities for young people are becoming increasingly […]

Gen22 and Ideas Made Real Impact Report Published

United By 2022’s Gen22 and Ideas Made Real 2023–2024 Impact Report highlights the incredible strides made by young people across the West Midlands. Designed to break down barriers to opportunity, these programmes have empowered 577 participants—many from underrepresented backgrounds—to lead over 22,000 hours of meaningful social action. Key achievements include: The report shows that co-creation, […]

United By 2022 celebrates success of Gen22 programme and announces new funding

United By 2022, the legacy charity of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, is celebrating the achievements of young people across the West Midlands as they successfully complete its Gen22 programme. An initiative from United By 2022, Gen22 is a free-to-access programme which creates opportunities for young people aged 16-24 to gain employability-boosting skills and make […]

Accelerating Change: A Conversation with Malikah Khan for International Women’s Day

In honour of International Women’s Day, we are excited to bring you an inspiring conversation with Malikah, a young and passionate social change activist who joined United By 2022’s Ideas Made Real programme, to provide young women from her community access to snow sports. Through her own experiences, Malikah recognised there weren’t many girls that […]

Wild Earth – An Ideas Made Real Case Study

Wild Earth is a Coventry based Community Group, set up to connect young people and communities to nature, to improve mental health and wellbeing. We funded them £8,000 to rejuvenate their inner city allotment space. Using this space, the team run workshops for young people with physical and mental health needs and the neurodiverse community, […]

The Disorderly Canal Clean Up – An Ideas Made Real Case Study

The Challenge Chantelle Orris, Artistic Director, set up the Disorderly Company in order to bring to light enviromental issues in fun and creative ways! Chantelle was passionate about engaging primary school children and educating them about the importance of looking after the environment, keeping the canals clean and picking up after yourself, in order to […]

Gen22 Case Study: Gabriela from Gazebo Theatre

Gazebo Theatre is a ‘Theatre in Education’ company based in Wolverhampton. They tour professional theatre productions, run arts programmes in schools, and provide creative training and support around employability and development. As one of our Gen22 partners, Gazebo Theatre received funding to engage young people facing barriers in a 30-hour volunteering assignment. Each participant was […]