My City and Me

COVID-19 has undoubtedly had a huge impact on young people. We know that young people are, and will be, negatively affected by the economic effects of a competitive and limited job market and recession. In addition, the lockdown measures brought in by governments all over the world have undoubtedly had a huge effect on mental health and wellbeing, particularly for young people who are not able to socialise with their friends.

That’s why we created My City and Me – a project that brings together young people from London and New York to creatively document their experiences of the pandemic. We have been working closely with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York on their DocumentarNYC project to connect young people across the globe, using the joint power of our platforms to give young people a voice to express their thoughts, feelings and opinions to a wider audience through a variety of art forms.

Thanks to the generous support of Berkeley Foundation and Citi Foundation, we created a platform where young people can creatively express their thoughts, feelings and opinions to the world. As part of the project, young people are given a variety of themes to respond to in whatever creative medium or style they choose.

Young people from London and New York also got the chance to meet virtually in an exciting interactive session. For the first time, both groups of young people came together to connect, create together and find out what life is like on both sides of the Atlantic.

The event began with our young co-hosts introducing our special VIP guests, including senior employees from Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Four young people from London and New York then showcased their creative pieces, which led us on to the breakout sessions, where youth from both groups came together to create a new piece of art. It was incredible to see what they produced in such a short period of time, and our special guests were very impressed too!

A huge thank you to Media Trust for their support with this project and event.

We hope that this project empowers young people from around the globe to form new connections and find shared experiences in what is a scary and uncertain time.