Above: Photograph of students participating in the Hackney 'Street Crime' project.

Campaign! Make an Impact is an innovative project in which children and young people change their lives through engagement with museum and library collections. First they study a historic campaign such as the movement for the abolition of the slave trade or the struggle for votes for women. Then inspired by the past, they use their new skills to plan and run modern day campaigns about issues that affect them today. Results of the project have been described as "phenomenal" with pupils learning from the past to change their environments, their futures and raise their self-esteem.

During the 2007-2008 academic year a group of students from Skinners' Company's School for Girls (Hackney, East London) visited the British Library to look at some unique collection items relating to the women's suffrage movement and worked in their class to explore the impact and legacy of that campaign. The students then engaged in creative and critical thinking activities about how to campaign and use film as a communication tool.  

When the group discussed the issues affecting them in their community, street crime seemed the most significant. The students felt there were already several existing campaigns about stopping knife and gun crime in the area and wanted to do something more original. After much discussion and a group vote, the class decided to run a campaign to raise the profile of services available to young people affected by crime in Hackney, their local borough.

Working with filmmaker Dan Saul, the students directed, starred in and produced an awareness raising film aimed at other young people. They interviewed a variety of people, including the cabinet member responsible for crime and community safety in Hackney and a support worker from Sub-19 (Hackney Young Persons Substance Misuse Service), to find out what advice they can give to teenagers who are affected by crime.

"We feel free doing this project - we get to give our opinions and work together."

                      Quote: Shancele - Pupil at Skinners' Company's School for Girls.

 For further information about the Campaign! Make an Impact project please select the following websites:

* www.bl.uk/campaign
* www.mylearning.org/campaign

Additional information is also available from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) report, "Inspiration, Identity, Learning: The Value of Museums." Page 25 and throughout.
http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/Thevalueofmuseumspt1.pdf.