HIP HOP GARDEN
Winner of the 2015 Mayor of London's Team London Award
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An innovative, alternative education model using hip hop to educate and empower young people to be healthy, entrepreneurial and to grow their communities.
The Full Course
Our 24-week full course for 16-24 year olds focuses on personal development, education and enterprise skills. Modules include Green Enterprise, Event Management, Food Growing, Nutrition and Fitness, Hip Hop as a Social Movement, and Permaculture.
It offers urban youth a chance to connect with nature, address their traumas, improve their physical and mental health and learn tangible skills (e.g. food growing, gardening, green enterprise) which can benefit their lives financially and socially. They are engaged through popular urban youth culture, e.g. Hip Hop, which transcends language and cultural backgrounds and also offers tangible skills such as event management, music production, creativity, performance, public speaking, presenting, increased self-esteem and social enterprise. Combined, the two worlds give young people a strong and holistic foundation for financial security, self-discipline, independence, balance, good health, social integration and fulfilment.
CASE STUDY: Young Refugees
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From spring 2019 we are working in partnership with Help Refugees, Injera Club and Young Roots to run the full course for young refugees based in South London.
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The course is already off to a flying start with DJing, gardening, filming, and pizza making and an off-site trip to a gig.
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The course will be running until Autumn, with the holistic aims of personal healing, entrepreneurship and skills development for each participant.
The Taster Sessions
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Our taster sessions are specifically designed for schools and youth organisations as one-off, standalone workshops that are tailored to a theme or topic area from the full course. For example, we may run a radio show pop up, an 'alternative' fitness session including capoeira and yoga, a DJ skills workshop, or garden session.
We also have our flagship 'Hip Hop Garden' taster day which combines health and wellbeing, music and lyric writing to culminate in a student-led performance piece. This workshop is ready to go and can be run with both primary and secondary aged students.
If you would like to know more, or to book us for a workshop, please contact ian@mayproject.org
CASE STUDY: Youth Homelessness
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In 2018, we were approached by Depaul UK to help them engage the young people living at their hostel in Greenwich, South London. After meeting with the staff about the needs of the young people, we designed a 'Hip Hop Garden Brunch', combining music and Hip Hop with nutritious food and cooking.
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Due to the success of these taster sessions, Sherborne In The Community has awarded us to run a full tailored programme at the youth hostel in 2019.
The Tailored Programme
Examples have included: a 3 year (and counting!) health and nutrition programme at a youth club in Loughborough Junction (see case study below), a campaign to save a youth club in Pollards Hill, and a community growing project near East Street.
If you think your young people could benefit from our work, please contact ian@mayproject.org to discuss.
CASE STUDY: LJ Youth Project
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Since April 2016, we’ve been running a tailored programme at a youth club in Loughborough Junction (next to Brixton), situated in one of the most deprived wards in the UK. During this time, the young people were not only introduced to vegan food, but grew, cooked and sold food to the local community. They also recorded a grime track about fruit and veg, a graffiti project to celebrate their health, and visited other areas of London to sample and review restaurants.
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Over the years, we have built strong relationships with both staff and young people and become a core part of the youth club's delivery. With many recent tragedies affecting the youth club at its door step, we look forward to continuing to support this youth club and its young people.
