Young Londoners Coalition

The Young Londoners Coalition is a network of infrastructure voices in the statutory and voluntary youth sector across London, chaired by Partnership for Young London and London Youth. The sector is composed of hundreds of organisations, delivering a wide array of vital services that support the ever-changing needs of almost 3 million young people in every borough of London.

We are firmly of the belief that many of the issues that affect young Londoners are best addressed by cross-sector collaboration at a pan-London level. Those represented in this Young Londoners Coalition have close links with communities and young people across the capital and understand the complex and varied needs which exist in these communities.

Our aim is to work together to ensure that the London youth sector can speak with one voice to London and national policymakers and other partners on its capacity, needs and concerns, while ensuring that those stakeholders are able to work meaningfully and effectively with a large and complex youth sector.  This builds on the work completed before on a Vision for Young Londoners. We recently set out our views on the government’s Levelling Up White Paper as it affects young Londoners.

We have 4 overarching priorities and various work streams within this

Our focus is as follows:

1. Regional Influence – To work collaboratively on influencing the policy practice and resourcing for youth services across the region.

We will do this by:

• Working across the partnership to identify and target opportunities to influence both national and regional youth policy and practice, profiling the work underway across the region and the needs of both young people and the youth sector.

2. Data and Insight – To take a proactive approach to developing a London

perspective on the needs of young people, building on the trusted relationships and collaboration in place.

We will do this by:

• Creating a Young Londoners Research Network to share practice, co-create data and insight with young people and build capacity across the youth sector through effective partnerships with universities

3. Workforce – To enable a cohesive workforce drawn from all sectors that is equipped to meet the holistic needs of diverse groups of young people.

We will do this by:

• Developing a workforce strategy for the region building on the work already underway nationally, profiling the offer available across London, securing the next pipeline of skilled workers and building a culturally competent workforce

4.Youth Voice and Influence – To advocate for and amplify the diverse voices and needs of young Londoners, influencing policy, resourcing, and delivery.

We will do this by:

• Working collaboratively to ensure that diverse young people’s voices are at the core of any offer across the region, including developing a regional perspective on votes and 16 and a manifesto commitment to a youth summit

The current period is a critical time for young people in London and for the dedicated professionals and outstanding organisations that support them.  To build collective impact we aim to build a dynamic collaboration of organisations and networks that are responsive to the emerging needs of young people, and integrate new ways of working, sharing and learning.

The Partnership

The partners who are engaged in the Young London Coalition include:

London Youth, Partnership for Young London, Hyde Housing, MTVH, The Prince’s Trust, A New Direction, Impetus, Young People’s Foundations, John Lyon’s Charity, A New Direction, London Borough’s Faith Network. It is also supported by London Funders, the GLA and London Councils leads.

To find out more about the Young Londoners Coalition please contact

Sharon Long – Partnership for Young London sharon.long@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Pauline Daniyan – London Youth  pauline.daniyan@londonyouth.org