400 strong and championing London’s youth sector
14 September 2018
Over the last two years we’ve doubled the size of London Youth’s member network and last month, we reached 400 members!
This is important for two reasons:
- The youth sector has been under a lot of pressure for a number of years and we want to make sure that we reach and serve as many organisations that need our services and support as possible.
- By having a stronger member network this gives us strength in numbers, enabling us to have a louder voice to shout about the value of community youth work and drive more investment into the sector.
London Youth supports our members in three main ways:
1. Enhancing impact – helping community youth organisations thrive and deliver better services for young people – through quality assurance, training and practical help and support; as well as through our sports, arts, employability, youth social action, and outdoor education
“Our most confident young people have had amazing experiences and learned new skills through London City Leaders and the Jimmy Dixon Leadership programme. A large group spent a Happiness Weekender improving their ability to relax and cope, and we are just back from three exhilarating days at Hindleap Warren.”(…)
“One key part of London Youth membership is that for the first time, we are accredited for the work we do with young people. We are proud to be careful, rigorous and inclusive in our work with young people, but the process of achieving our Silver Quality Mark has been a fruitful opportunity to take a step back and look very carefully at our practices and procedures, and the way we involve our young people in decision-making.”
2. Supporting sustainability – providing opportunities to access more funds through our small grants, discounts and direct support to run our programmes
“We’re able to provide training for our volunteers and staff, which include safeguarding at all levels and activator workshops which have included football, boxing, and multi sports. We have also been awarded funding via London Youth for our football projects, enabling us to buy much-needed equipment.”
3. Strengthening networks – helping develop supportive relationships between members, by creating networks which are focused on the issues youth workers are facing day to day.
“Being able to join networks such as the Youth Inclusion Network and Tackling Youth Violence Network has enabled us to contribute to London wide agendas affecting young people. It brings different organisations working around common themes together, sharing best practices and promoting partnerships between members.”
Collectively representing our members and the youth sector’s needs and concerns publicly is another benefit of membership. Raising awareness of the impact of good youth work on young people and the vital role community youth organisations play within communities across London is a focus for us over the coming year.
“We definitely feel stronger as a collective, working towards a better London for the young people we work with and London Youth gives us a home and umbrella to have one collective voice and champion for change.”
– Rosa Palli, Head of Membership Development
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