The Centre for Youth Voice: Continuing the Sector Revolution

Joining the Centre for Youth Impact 4 years ago was an entirely new venture for me. I’d only been involved in youth social action for around a year and a half. So I was new. Like, really new. And this was something that I had no experience in. That was 4 years ago. 4 years later, the Centre for Youth Impact has been on a journey and a half. From the Centre for Youth Impact to the Centres at YMCA George Williams College. And now, the Centre for Youth Voice.

This project means a lot to me. Why? Because I believe in the work and the aims the Centre has. We’re doing something that will truly change the sector. Something that will revolutionise the way in which social action can be carried out. We’re talking better involvement, better solutions, better progress, and better outcomes. The tools the Centre is producing and want to produce are something the whole sector (and beyond) should be excited about.

We’ve achieved a lot since the project first started. The Youth Voice Observatory is a tool that the team worked very hard on (trust me, some people make coding data look way easier than it is) and is still available to use. We wish to expand on that work, make it more accessible, open and easier to work with. We started to establish and create tools via which organisations could assess their level of youth voice within their work. Again, we want to expand on that work, ensuring that every organisation gains the ability to carry out that self-assessment that we consider to be so important.

The tools we intend to build and share will revolutionise social action. For young people, they’ll be able to simply see what action is being taken in their area, allowing them to get involved or see where the gaps are that they can help fill. For youth workers, being able to see the gaps and network with the organisations already carrying out fundamental work across the sector will ensure they can reach more young people. For funders, being able to see where they could be duplicating some existing work and where they should be The Centre for Youth Voice: Continuing the Sector Revolution 1 targeting to ensure that there are projects out there supporting young people to make a change. From grassroots social action, to long-term embedded social action, the tools will support change-makers to ensure they make the change they wish to make.

I want to reflect for a moment on the people that are making this whole project happen. As I’m sure you are all aware, the project was taken over a month or so ago by the Partnership of Regional Youth Work Units. I think this is fundamentally a part of why this work is going to be successful. This is a partnership of people who are at different stages of youth work. Who have experienced true social action. It’s a partnership. A partnership means being able to reach more people from across the nation. A partnership means collaboration. And we all know collaboration is key to everything we do. This is why I believe in this project. The Youth Work Units are the beating heart of regional youth work. And with those beating hearts coming together, we will strive to become the beating heart of social action across the nation.

The young ambassadors that will lead this project are a group of amazing young people that you will come to learn about in the coming weeks and months. But I assure you all that every one of us are deeply passionate about this project. And I’m extremely glad to have each and every one of them on board. They bring new perspectives and new eyes to the table. I’ve been involved with the centres in one form or another over the past four years and I’m always amazed at the new young people that come to join us.

So, as we build up to this re-launch, I hope every reader is excited as I am as we prepare to shake up things a bit. And I hope as many of you come to our relaunch event on September 30th so you can hear directly from the people involved in the project and the people behind ensuring we can continue this work. I look forward to the coming year and years beyond to see the changes we make and the problems we solve within the sector.