Getaway Girls highlight importance of hair as Young Changemakers make a difference

Young black and black mixed-race women in Leeds are hoping for a brighter future after highlighting the importance of hair.

It comes after Leeds-based charity Getaway Girls took part in the Young Changemakers’ Accelerator pathway.

The Young Changemakers programme, run by national youth work charity UK Youth, in partnership with The Diana Award and Centre For Mental Health, aims to help young people in racialised communities to improve mental health support through their own social action projects. The accelerator scheme is designed to engage Young Changemakers to continue making an impact in their community, after completing their projects.

Getaway Girls took part in the accelerator pathway after the success of their work around identity, relationships and mental health, expressed through young people’s hair.

This included meeting inspirational women, including comedian Judi Love, an awareness event at a local salon, where young people could have their hair braided in different styles while the group talked about mental health, and My Hair Story, a social media campaign celebrating black hair.

A Getaway Girls spokeswoman said: “We explored the importance of hair and our hair journey and looked at being able to wear our natural hair without fear of discrimination or judgement.

“We had group conversations where we discussed how we felt about our hair and how important it was to us. Together we looked at some of the difficulties we have had finding the correct products and how this can sometimes be expensive. In sessions we talked about how people have been discriminated against due to their natural hair in the workplace and educational settings.”

Getaway Girls is a charity working to empower girls and young women in Leeds to build their confidence, resilience and futures, with an aim that all young women and girls in Leeds lead safe, healthy and fulfilled lives.

The charity applied to the accelerator pathway in a bid to increase understanding of race, reduce stigma and amplify the needs of black and dual heritage young women re mental health, emotional wellbeing and support offered in services.

A spokeswoman said: “The aim for the accelerator was for the Getaway Girls Changemakers group to come back together, to work with partners to bring the campaigns to life and disseminate the My Hair, My Story campaign, to disseminate resources and tools to a wider audience, and to showcase the learning from the accelerator programme and further opportunities for voice, influence and change in Leeds.”

“It’s important for funders, policy makers, organisations to truly listen to the young women from Black and mixed heritage backgrounds and their lived experience. Hear what they have to say and where possible start with that.”

Key learnings for the Getaway Girls’ Young Changemakers included:

One youth practitioner said the scheme had inspired them to return to youth work.

They said: “I have been teaching for many years so to get back involved in such prominent youth and community work that is significant to me has made me re-evaluate my career path.

“Youth and community was always my passion it is what I originally studied and how I started my working life and it has been great to get back to that.“

UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of more than 9,000 youth organisations and nation partners; UK Youth reaches more than four million young people across the UK and is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is needed now more than ever. To find out more, visit ukyouth.org 

UK Youth is involved in a range of programmes designed to help young people thrive, such as outdoor learning, physical literacy, social action and employability. For more on UK Youth’s programmes, see ukyouth.org/what-we-do/programmes