Recently, Real Ideas worked in partnership with the Co-operative College to deliver a series of sessions on Youth Cooperative Action.
What started as a group of students coming together on a Friday afternoon to talk about ways to improve the college, became an activist college cooperative called College Roots Cooperative (CRC) where the mission is to support the growth of plants and people. The students worked together and in collaboration to reenvisage a community green space near their local college to make the area appealing for both wildlife and people.
Watch the video to find out what Rose thought of setting up CRC and what her experience of the Youth Cooperative Action sessions was:
The 11 environmental science students started unsure of which green space they wanted to tackle first, what their focus would be and how they would make a space accessible to both wildlife and people. Yet over the course of 13 weeks, the young people decided to focus their energy on the wildflower meadow and make it into a community garden for all. Their ideas included hanging homemade bird feeders in trees, the addition of bark and wildflower seed to encourage plant and mushroom growth, and the creation of a new gate that would improve the space drastically.
Owen, a College Roots Cooperative member, said “The project has helped me have a better bond with the people on my course and understand the area around me more”
We look forward to catching up with College Roots Cooperative next to see what more great work they’ve been up to!
If you’re a young person and want to see how you can be involved with a similar project or even want to talk through potential career routes, email yes@realideas.org or check out one of our programmes: Green Thinkers, Compass or Game Changer.
