Heroes Among US

Event Overview

During the 30th of June and 1st of July the Metaverse network celebrated the Metaverse Event Heroes Among us a two-day immersive experience exploring youth engagement in crisis response and civic engagement. The event used youth's response to the DANA floods in Valencia (Spain) as a catalyst to reflect on the participation of youth in civic life.

This open reflection allowed us to collect participants views on how society can help youth become more active members and how youth can become more empowered in their actions. From the compiled views, a policy recommendation document was elaborated.

Session 1: "Revealing heroes in our society"

The first session focused on how society can help youth become active members of society, discussing:

• How public authorities and civil society can further support meaningful youth participation
• How young people have the potential to serve influential roles for community resilience and innovation
• How everyday heroism can be recognized and supported for long-term change.

Participants actively contributed to a dynamic debate in Padlet, engaging with thought-provoking questions like:

• Why do young people often feel unheard in today's society?
• Are there real examples where youth voices made a difference? What enabled that impact?
• What defines a "hero" in modern society?
• Have youth-led actions ever been ignored? Why?
• What does the system prioritize over youth engagement?

Session 2: "Reveal the hero in me"

The second session focused on empowering youth by identifying barriers, considering recommendations to foster their participation in public and civic life and understanding how young people view their place in society and how their abilities and dedication can enhance community resilience, civic initiatives, and social innovation.

Throughout the session, participants were able to comment their ideas and reflections on questions such as:

• Do I have the feeling that most of the time my engagement is not recognized, my voice not heard? Why? Has my perception changed after the first session?
• Are we expecting unrealistic things from youth?
• Can I recall one time where I was impressed by someone engaging, but did nothing myself? Can I recall why?
• Do I have the feeling I was provided the skills to engage? Do I think I might develop these skills throughout my engagement anyway?
• What is the biggest external obstacle to my engagement in day-to-day life?
• What is the biggest internal obstacle to my engagement in day-to-day life?
• Is Youth equal when it comes to the possibility to engage?
• If I had to make one day-to-day change to engage more, what could it be?

Policy Recommendations

The views, opinions and reflections from participants were collected into a complete Policy Recommendation document which you can find and read below.

Metaverse Experience

For this event, we created a Metaverse space inspired by the DANA catastrophe in Valencia (Spain) showcasing news stories of how young people raised up to the challenge and became instrumental in the relief activities of this tragedy.