By Fay Pretty | PeaceJam UK Coordinator
We are so excited to announce that, with the support of our GlobalGiving donors, our next Manchester Slam will take place on Saturday 21 March 2026. Built off the momentum of our first Manchester event and our Online Conference in 2025, PeaceJam UK has been able to develop ongoing conversations with returning PeaceJammers, and facilitate youth-led planning and reflective action, creating young leaders as a result.
Students at Sharples School and Manchester Communication Academy identified that while local issues such as knife crime and gang violence saw an uptake in community action after an incident, preventative action was lacking.
As of 2024, Manchester had the fourth highest knife crime rate in UK cities, with around 400 incidents a month relating to knife crimes. These statistics are interconnected with other prevalent community issues. A report from Manchester Council in 2021 investigated youth violence and found that 80 per cent of perpetrators had either lost a parent to separation or bereavement, while more than 60 per cent had experienced either neglect, substance abuse or domestic violence.
This is why the students at Sharples School and Manchester Communication Academy chose the theme of the Manchester Slam 2026 as ‘Stronger Together’! To reflect the need and desire to strengthen communities and empower local residents to take positive action. With input from multiple school groups, PeaceJammer Alumni and our Youth Leadership Team, participants on 21st March can get ready for an action-packed day with Q & A panels, hands-on workshops and near-peer mentoring groups. Students will also have the opportunity to present social action projects they have been developing and exchange ideas for positive change.
For example, Brian, who first became involved in PeaceJam as a Year 10 participant at our first Manchester Slam in 2025 and is now a member of our Youth Leadership Team, is leading a group of Year 11’s at his school to run a school wide art competition using the event theme, ‘Stronger Together’. Encouraging other students to come together and express themselves through poetry, writing, painting, drawing or any other art form. Additionally, the Year 11 group are developing a social action project to address homelessness in the community and will be sharing their project at the Manchester Slam.
There is still time to register for our event!
We are building momentum for long term change, creating young leaders from deprived areas that are supporting the journey of the next generation of changemakers and this would not have been possible without your continued support. Thank you.
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