A Brief History



 A brief history of Colours Youth Network 

 
In 2016, we came together as a small group of LGBTQ PoC youth workers, in search of support, community and more joined up working for supporting LGBTQ PoC youth in the UK and within our youth organisations. We recognised the scarcity of LGBTQ PoC youth spaces, the isolation present for us as LGBTQ PoC youth workers but also the strength we felt together. From that meeting, our commitment to supporting both LGBTQ PoC youth and youth workers was born...later that year we ran our very first LGBTQ PoC youth residential with young people from Manchester, London, Sheffield and Bradford!


 
From 2016 onwards, Colours Youth Network (Colours) continued to grow, holding annual youth residentials, regional youth meet ups, growing a network for youth workers, including spaces for peer support and develop practice and supporting young people from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to access LGBTQ PoC youth celebrations via our annual Colours Youth Festival. 
 
In 2019 we held our first annual festival for young people in Birmingham, we welcomed guest elders Lady Phyll and Tanya Compas from UK Black Pride, Dr Ronx as well as Travis Alabanza as our guest speaker, and young people from all over the UK to an amazing inaugural day of gorgeous connections. Later that year, Colours was nominated for a National Diversity Award and in 2020, acknowledged in the British LGBT Awards top 10 Community and Charity Initiatives.
 
In 2020 our team took the step to move the work away from the white-led youth organisations we were working for and registered Colours Youth Network as an independent limited company. We launched a fundraiser to set up our foundations and to help resource our first few years of work as a fully independent LGBTQ POC led youth organisation (a big thank you again to everyone who donated!). 
 
Amidst the Covid-19 global pandemic and multiple lockdowns, our team experimented with moving our youth and youth worker spaces online. One of the highlights of that year being the Colours online residential, guiding young people over 3 days, through activities they could do by themselves, and in group sessions across Zoom and Instagram Live.
 
From 2022 onwards, as Covid-19 lockdowns eased and meeting in person was deemed as safer to do again, almost all Colours events for young people and youth workers moved back in person. Including young people meet-ups in London and Manchester, as well as youth worker gatherings in Birmingham attended by youth workers across England. 
 
In 2023, reflecting on the changes in capacity on the team, changes to priorities for youth funding, as well as not being able to meet the needs of young people through delivering regular and local sessions (where we knew the work was needed the most), the team made the decision to close Colours Youth Network after one final year.   
 
2024, our final year, was an opportunity for the team to slow down and invest time in reflecting on and celebrating the work of the previous 8 years and the legacy we wanted to leave. In this last year, we supported UK Black Pride to hold their first dedicated youth space, laying the foundations for this to become a permanent feature of the event, held a final in person youth worker gathering in Birmingham and led a series of workshops in the lead up to Manchester Pride for young people in the North.   
 
We proudly end 2024 with the release of two resources written and put together across our final year. They each bring together reflections and messages of hope and validation, designed by and for LGBTQ young people and youth workers of colour. Both resources are available to download for free on the links below and a limited number of physical copies are available to pick up from central London, Bradford and Manchester locations - email us on coloursyouthuk@gmail.com to arrange a pick up.  

  • Healing & Growing Together: Reflections on Navigating Grief and Boundaries Within LGBTQ POC Youth Work - Download here

 

a young person's feedback card from Colours Youth Festival


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