About us

Powered by CAN work with children, young people and young adults across the Black Country and the wider Midlands region. We want to empower young people from the region to feel the same pride and purpose for their community as we do.

From our years as Creative Academies Network, to our current transition as Powered By CAN, the Black Country and the wider Midlands region have remained at the forefront of our vision.

We support our communities though:

• Championing young people, amplifying young voices and ensuring they play a role in key decisions
• Building pride of place, encouraging and supporting young people to participate and involve themselves within their local community.
• Kick starting personal and social development by providing fun and engaging arts, play and sport activities.

How we can work together to make a difference…
Empowering children, young people and young adults to lead the change they want to see through the delivery of services, opportunities and experiences that contribute to every stage of their lives.

How we can make the change…
Through impactful engaged and purposeful work with our communities, we will co-create opportunities that empower children, young people and young adults to make positive life choices or to reach their full potential

Our staff, our work and our commitment are upheld by our core values. Our values are:

Care

We hold our values with consideration, ensuring that our collective care translates into impactful projects that foster a sense of care in our participants, for themselves and their communities.

Challenge

Our focus, drive and enthusiasm for kickstarting positive and effective change through challenging inequality underpins everything we do. 

Commitment

We commit to bringing to life the ambitions and passions of children, young people and young adults in our communities, believing that no dream is too big, and no vision too small. We demonstrate our commitment through participant-driven activities and projects with tangible outcomes.

Collaboration

We are powered up through and by collaboration! We encourage and celebrate collaborative efforts to improve opportunities in the Black Country, Birmingham and surrounding areas, as well as nationwide.

Creative

Being creative does not always mean artistic expression. Sometimes simply finding a way is the most powerful form of creativity! Whether it’s through emphasising the power of creative freedom, or thinking of a way to solve a problem, creativity is at the heart of Powered by CAN.

Community

Our work happens hand in hand with our communities, whether we build, highlight or support them. We celebrate creating new connections as well as highlighting underrepresented communities through our projects, programmes and overall strategy. With you, we can make a change and we will!

Our Objectives

Pride of place

We acknowledge that although we are more connected than ever, there is a huge rise in people becoming detached from their physical communities. We will always push for our participants to become more involved in the projects impacting their communities, leading to a physical sense of pride, whilst recognising the value of technology and digital communities in our changing world.

Positive programmes and principles

We will be a force for good in our communities, delivering ambitious services that provide tangible paths to opportunities and valuable experiences for children, young people and young adults – with the goal of building generational growth and raising aspiration.

Powering participants and people

We will ensure our activities provide a lasting impact, with both transformational and transferable skills. Our programmes will build on the strengths and needs of children, young people and young adults so that they thrive and are resilient into adulthood. 

Pushing performance and policy

We will empower our children, young people and young adults to have a say in, and impact on, the key decisions that affect their lives, whilst influencing policy and investment to prioritise services for children.

Playing our part

We will put our money where our mouth is. To state our objectives without acting on them is against everything we have and continue to build at Powered by CAN. We will ensure our team remains relevant, diverse, informed and ready to create impact, holding our volunteers, board and partners to the same standards.