The Young Foundation is delighted to announce our continued role as national partner in the ambitious, award-shortlisted Peer Action Collective (PAC) programme, a network driven by and for young people. A new cohort of partners has joined the next phase of the project, which will run from 2025 to 2027, and explore three key themes of violence affecting young people.
Since PAC started in 2021, more than 12,000 young people have been involved in the programme. Through the most recent phase from 2023, more than 5,158 young people aged 10 to 25 have engaged in research and social action through PAC to address violence in their communities.
This next phase is funded by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) and the #iwill Fund (a joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport). The programme extension will continue to put youth voice and participation at the heart of social change in communities, working to improve the lives of young people in England.
Isabella Pereira, Interim Co-Director of Research at The Young Foundation said:
“The ground-breaking youth-led approach of the Peer Action Collective has already demonstrated that young people have many solutions to the challenges they face. By empowering them to work together in their communities to make change, the programme has created hope for a safer and happier future. The Young Foundation are therefore thrilled to be embarking on this latest phase of PAC with our new delivery partners.”
Addressing key themes of violence affecting young people
The Young Foundation will support four community organisations in England to train young people affected by violence to undertake peer research and social action in their communities. Young people in PAC teams will address the root causes of violence affecting their peers, considering how violence is experienced and understood. Their work will focus on three key themes:
1. Mental health in young people
In London, two teams will explore how mental health services can better support young people affected by violence, as well as the accessibility of existing support, and its cultural relevance. One team is led by High Trees in Lambeth, who have previously been a part of PAC, working alongside Juvenis and IRMO. A second team is led by Coffee Afrik in Tower Hamlets and supported by Queen Mary University of London.
2. Policing and the lives of young people
Led by the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Violence Reduction Network and in partnership with Young Leicestershire, this team will investigate the role of trust, safety and everyday interactions with the police in the lives of young people affected by violence and crime in East and West Leicester.
3. Children’s services
Pure Insight, based in Cheshire and Greater Manchester, will lead a team of young people with lived experience of the care system to explore how support structures can be made more consistent and responsive to young people’s needs and safety.
Prioritising youth voice
PAC will continue to prioritise and drive youth voice at the heart of research and social action to create sustained change in communities.
Raheel, a young person entering the programme as a PAC Lead with High Trees in Lambeth, London, reflects on the importance of centring youth voice in this work:
“I believe using our voices as young people is the way to ensure we are empowered and have access to the correct tools to shape the future we are deserving off as young people. This role enables me to work with others on the same mission.”
To find out more about PAC and to read previous reports, visit the hub page.
Education and employment Families and youth Inequality Peer research Social action Posted on: 2 December 2025