How your ideas can shape opportunities at IT’S POSSIBLE NOW

If you are 16 or over, you can send IT’S POSSIBLE NOW an idea, a barrier or an improvement through Have your say. The team reads every message. If you agree, a summary without your name can appear in You said, we did, where it moves through four stages: Heard, Reviewed, Decided and Acted. You do not need to join the youth panel to take part.

What you can send

The form asks what your message is about: an idea, something that gets in the way, something to improve, or something else. You can say which of the six pathways it relates to, or none. Then you tell us more, in up to 1,500 characters.

Two choices are yours:

• Whether you want a reply. If you do, we ask what to call you and how to reply. If not, you can send the message without contact details.
• Whether we can publish a summary. If you leave that box unticked, we still read your message and we do not publish it.

Leave out health details, a diagnosis and other people’s private information. If you are under 16, the form does not send anything, and a parent, carer, teacher or youth worker can contact us for you.

What happens after you send it

You see a reference number straight away. If you gave an email address, we email the reference to you too. The email does not repeat what you wrote.

Your message goes into a protected staff area that only the IT’S POSSIBLE NOW team can use. Each message is marked as new, in review, follow-up or closed, and every change is recorded. If you asked for a reply, we reply using the contact method you chose.

We keep your message for 12 months after we decide what to do with it. After that we keep only a summary with no names. The privacy notice has the details.

How a message becomes a public entry

A message does not appear on the website by itself. When young people raise something we can act on, a member of the team writes an entry for You said, we did. Each entry records:

Before an entry is published, someone who did not write or edit it must approve it. If anyone changes it after approval, it needs approving again. Entries at the Heard stage are never published, because nothing has been looked at yet.

You said, we did has no entries yet. The first will appear once a message has been reviewed and the entry approved.

Examples of what an entry could look like

These are examples written for this guide. They are not real entries, and nobody said them.

• Heard: “Application forms ask for too much before you know whether a course suits you.” Stage: Decided. Status: Planned. What happened: We will try a short first conversation before any form.
• Heard: “Some meeting rooms are hard to reach without a car.” Stage: Reviewed. Status: Under discussion. What happened: We are checking which venues are near public transport.
• Heard: “Sessions should run in the evening.” Stage: Decided. Status: Cannot do yet. Reason: No venue for evening sessions is agreed yet.

The youth panel and surveys

The youth panel is proposed: eight young people aged about 16 to 24 from different backgrounds across Greater Manchester. Membership, meetings, payment, safeguarding arrangements and dates are agreed before anyone joins. You can register interest; that does not reserve a place.

Youth surveys are short, and each shows when it opens and closes. They do not ask for your name or contact details. We publish results only as totals and hide any group small enough for someone to be recognised.

What Have your say is not

Have your say is not an emergency service. If someone is in danger now, call 999. Samaritans answer on 116 123, free, day or night, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.

Send your idea

Have your say takes a few minutes. If your idea fits one of the six pathways, the NEET to OPPORTUNITY page explains each one.