1. Financial
Year
12/13
Young Advisors & Strategic Partners
Hear more, see more, do more, be more
A pack that facilitates a better understanding of the Young Advisor
Movement, the charity, our strategy and our entrepreneurial
sustainability.
8 Bradley Street – Manchester – M1 1EH

2. Table of Contents
Table of Contents ........................................................................................... 2
About Young Advisors .................................................................................... 3
What Projects Do ............................................................................................ 5
Sustainability .................................................................................................... 6
Case Studies .................................................................................................... 7
Young Advisors Train Local Councillors..................................................... 7
West Somerset Young Advisors Work With EDF ...................................... 10
Sefton Young Advisors and Feeling Safe ................................................ 12
Other Young Advisor Quotes ................................................................... 15
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3. About Young Advisors
Young Advisors are young people typically aged between 15 and 21,
who show community leaders and decision makers how to engage
young people in community life, local decision-making, research and
improving services.
Young Advisors are trained agents of social action who guide local
authorities, housing associations and other local partners about what it
is like for a young person to live, work, learn and play in their
neighbourhood.
We have a national movement of young people across 55 projects
and we’ve trained and supported the employment of over 1,000
Young Advisors to date.
Young Advisors are locally recruited and professionally trained by the
Young Advisors Charity to provide links between professionals, young
people and their communities ensuring that plans, services research
and delivery are relevant and respected.
They bring unique expertise and knowledge about being young in their
area to influence an organisation’s strategic planning, decision-making
and marketing. They insightfully map local provision, gaps and
problems and work directly with other young people encouraging
them to get involved.
The Young Advisors movement is diverse, 42% identify as BME, 52%
male, 97% from the top 10% most deprived communities.
As a collective movement, our revenue is around £2m per annum and
extrapolating data for our evaluation months, our work impacts on
between 11,000 and 30,000 young people1 pcm. Each financial year,
we double to triple the investment made by government through
trading activity to further support our charitable aims.
The charity gives the movement of Young Advisors cohesion and
support. We are the single point of contact for all projects, deliver all
the training to accredit new Young Advisors, negotiate and secure
national commissions with them, and lobby on behalf of young people
1As independently evaluated by commissioners of YA services through our evaluation
system: http://www.youngadvisors.org.uk/evaluation
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4. to keep government policy relevant to the needs of under-represented
young people.
We are governed by young people who sit as a majority on the board
of Trustees. Young people also identify a handful of adult board
appointments when a specialism may be required.
In addition, by working with the private sector we are harnessing
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to make a real difference to
young people’s lives. Through commercialising ‘Youth Insight’ we
secure additional resources that we then invest into our charitable aims.
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5. What Projects Do
Youth
Proofing
Deliver
Workshops or Deliver
Keynotes at Training
Conferences
Young
Help You Advisor
Innovate & Research &
Problem Consultations
Solve
Provide a
Young Link Decision
Makers and
Person's
Young People
Perspective
• They will help organisations 'youth proof' their practices, policies,
strategies and commissioning;
• They will help organisations understand how to attract and
maintain the interests of young people;
• They will speak out for young people, making sure their thoughts
and feelings are considered in decisions that affect them;
• They will help organisations innovate to solve local challenges
bringing power and decision making into local communities;
• They will help organisations deliver research and consultations to
ensure your findings relate to the needs of young people;
• They will help organisations deliver training, mentoring and
coaching to people of all ages;
• They will engage directly with other young people to get them
involved in neighbourhood improvements;
• They will help organisations feed back what has changed as a
result of your work helping to give everyone a sense of civic
involvement.
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6. Sustainability
The Young Advisors Charity sustains it work by remaining a small
organisation that expands its reach through social franchising. Each of
our projects are financially independent and locally organise
themselves in a way that suits their sustainability.
Projects will typically be entrepreneurial as a division of an existing
company, or establish their own social enterprise.
The Young Advisors Charity generates income through several sources.
Young
Advisor National
Training & Commissions
Set up
Donations
and
Corporate Consultancy
Sponsorship
Young
Grants and Go2
Contracts Advisors Enterprise
Charity
Approximately 60% of our income is through traded activity; the rest is
made up of grants, contracts and donations.
Young Advisors was cited as one of six examples of a sustainable and
resilient business model in the DfE Commissioned report ‘Growing
Interest’2. The report explores the sector’s readiness for the new Social
Financing products being made available.
Classified as a ‘Social Firm’, we are a businesses created to employ
people who are in some way disadvantaged in the labour market
(such as young people not in education, employment or training).
2 http://www.youngfoundation.org/files/images/Growing_interest_-final.pdf
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7. Case Studies
Young Advisors Train Local Councillors
1. Background
In 2011 Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee a key
recommendation was to work on how Councillors could engage
young people in Local Area Working, specifically ward forums. The new
ward forums provide an
opportunity to develop
the way that young
people are engaged in
decision-making in their
local area. Councillor
Bellamy, Councillor
Vincent, the Young
Advisors team and the
Youth Engagement
Officer worked to design a workshop that would explore this issue. The
workshop itself was delivered by the Young Advisors, and was
attended by 14 Councillors and 12 Young Advisors.
2. Aims and objectives of workshop
For Councillors: To think about and decide how they will involve young
people in ward forums and local decision making To think about how
to promote ward forums to young people To understand the best ways
to engage with young people
3. Some tips and challenges we discussed
We found that Councillors generally have a good understanding of the
issues facing young people – especially around gangs, schools and
facilities for young people.
Young people understand that
Councillors may not be the people
who can solve all their problems but
would prefer to be ‘introduced’ rather
than be referred on/given another
number
Young people like to be engaged ‘on
their terms’. This could include an
appropriate venue, but also a meeting
that is non-judgemental and open minded. It is also important to think if
the dates and times of meetings make them accessible to young
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8. people, who may have school/college either at the meeting time or
early the next day.
There are many ways of engaging with young people; through
surgeries, ward forums, ward walks, youth centres or even engaging at
bus stops or tube stations. Sometimes it is best to use a variety of
methods; some young people are in school or college out of the
borough so using different methods can ensure all young people are
engaged.
One tip can be to build relationships with young people, for example
at a local school and then invite them to attend a local ward forum.
Sometimes it can be difficult for Councillors to engage with young
people as they work in the day that can make it difficult to visit schools.
It can also be a challenge to think about where are the best
opportunities to meet with young people locally. Young Advisors can
help support Councillors engage with young people in their local area.
4. Pledges from Local Councillors
Councillor Sweden (Wood
Street): Invite the Safer
Neighbourhood Team youth panel
to do a presentation at the ward
forum Contact the local secondary
school with a view to setting up a
‘youth surgery’
Councillor Qadir (Forest): Speak to
Leyton Sixth Form with a view to
involving pupils in a youth forum
Councillor Bellamy (Higham Hill): Conduct 4 youth surgeries per year,
Ward forums for young people, go into all schools in ward and hold
surgeries
Councillor Vincent (Markhouse): Continue process of starting a youth
forum in a youth club, When relationships have been built and the
young people are confident; invite them to attend the ward forum.
Councillor Samih (Chapel End): Use contact with local parents to
engage with young people together with their families
Councillor Mbachu (Grove Green): Visit bus station to leaflet young
people about ward forums and attend schools in ward
Councillor Mahmood (Markhouse): Highlight the work of ward forums to
young people and hold youth meetings during the holiday period.
Make myself available to local schools
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9. Councillor Asghar (Markhouse): Go to schools every three months
Councillor N Ali (William Morris): Use Young Advisors to engage with
young people and set up youth surgeries in schools. Set up a ward walk
with the Young Advisors
Councillor Mahmud (Hoe Street): Communicate about ward meetings
– through school newsletters, and standing outside school to engage
with pupils/parents with eye catching leaflets
Councillor Walker (Hatch Lane): Speak with ward Councillors to think
about best way to involve young people; probably through separate
forums. Publicise youth facilities in Mayoral year.
6. Time for Action! Next steps:
• Put together a timeline for how this work will be integrated into
the way ward forums work
• Build the links between Councillors and their local Young Advisors
• Conduct another workshop to engage more Councillors and to
check on progress
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10. West Somerset Young Advisors Work With EDF
The West Somerset Young Advisors have recently undertaken some
consultation work for EDF Energy on the proposed Hinkley Point C
development.
The Minehead based
Young Advisors became
interested in the plans for
the new power station
when they realised that
they and their peers
needed and wanted to
know more about the
project. Many young
people in the community
were not fully aware of the
opportunities and benefits
as well as potential
impacts and challenges
which the development posed. EDF Energy helped the Young Advisors
to carry out some consultation with young people to gauge their
interest in, and knowledge of, the development. The team consulted
with a range of young people to ensure that views were heard and
understood through a variety of means including assemblies, focus
groups, open sessions and a wash up event.
Tom Lock of the Young Advisors said “The key finding was generally
that young people had a basic knowledge that the development was
due to happen, but in many cases that was as far as the knowledge
went. There was a relatively low level of interest in the development but
interest did increase as more information was given to the participants.
There was an understanding that there would be job opportunities as a
result of the development and that there could be benefits to the area.
Feelings were split over whether the development was a good thing.
Participants certainly learnt more about the Hinkley Point C
development during our consultation period, but there was a feeling
that young people wanted to have more input on what happened. All
the information was gathered up and put into a 25-page report for EDF
Energy which included recommendations and our Young Advisors
views.”
Sammy Webber, another Young Advisor, said “It was a really interesting
exercise and we were pleased to work with EDF Energy on the project.
We feel that its very important that the young people of the area
understand the proposal and the impact it could have on their lives.
We are hoping to do some follow up work to increase levels of
understanding and interest amongst young people particularly in
regards to the opportunities which are available for them".
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11. David Eccles, Head of EDF Energy’s Bridgwater Office, said “We
commissioned the Young Advisors to research and prepare this report
as part of our programme of consultation with younger people about
Hinkley Point C. We welcome the recommendations from the
generation that would benefit most from a new power station and will
take them into account in our own extensive consultation report, which
will form part of our main application to the Infrastructure Planning
Commission later this year.”
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12. Sefton Young Advisors and Feeling Safe
Sefton Young Advisors have been
tackling the issue of Section 30s
(Dispersal Orders that can be used to
break up groups of more than two
people). Leading on this project is
Young Advisor, Kim Cooper who
specialises in community safety and
crime.
Kim designed a questionnaire and collected over 200 responses in the
ward she currently lives and works in, one of the most deprived in the
borough.
Kim found that:
• 70% of young people didn’t feel safe in their own communities
• 30% Didn’t know what a Section 30 was
• 95% felt unsafe going outside their area
• Only 40% would tell the police if they had a very big or fairly big
problem to do with their safety or that of others
Following the research, Kim and
the Sefton Young Advisor team
pulled together an event,
attended by all the local
decision makers who lead on
Section 30s and other community
safety initiatives. Here Kim and
the team presented their results
to the delegates and gave them
chance to discuss and debate in
groups how they could work
together to ensure younger and older people could feel safer on the
streets.
The event was a big success and lead to further work for the Young
Advisors. The Young Advisors are now sitting on a number of panels
within Sefton influencing the way Section 30s are to be implemented
and how other community safety solutions could be informed by the
innovative engagement of young people.
“We have a fantastic team; we may all be very different people from
very different backgrounds but when we come together to work on
projects we are always supportive and productive. The feeling you get
when you see your projects working and people enjoying what you
have created is fantastic.” Katy Russell, Sefton Young Advisor
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13. Following the event, they were invited by the Merseyside Police
Authority (MPA) to give a presentation on their research and they used
the opportunity to recommend the Police focus on building positive
links with young people and the wider community. This also led to the
MPA asking the Young Advisors to youth-proof their 2010-11 Merseyside
Policing Plan.
The research attracted the attention of Liverpool John Moores
University. Dr Joe Yates, Head of Criminology, invited Kim to give a
couple of lectures to first year Criminology students and involved Kim
and another Young Advisor, Mark Cameron, in planning and
facilitating an event about Section 30s that the University hosted. The
event gave another valuable opportunity for local young people to
pose questions to the Police, youth workers and local decision-makers.
The research was also disseminated through a series of DCLG-
organised high-profile seminars across the North West, at which Kim
gave presentations and answered questions to more than 200 people
at each event.
The Young Advisors revisited the research by facilitating an event for
young people from some of the most deprived communities in Sefton
(where the original research took place) and letting them know what
they had done with the research and getting information on how
young people’s views had changed. This was followed by another
extensive piece of consultation, facilitated by Young Advisors Emily
Woodruff and Brian Mok. Emily and Brian went to community centres,
youth groups, parks and other places young people gather to find out
how views had changed in the time since the first piece of research.
The Young Advisors work following their first piece of research resulted
in:
• Having seven Section 30 orders lifted or stopped for renewal
• A 49% decrease in the number of young people who didn’t feel
safe in their own community. (70% of young people didn’t feel
safe in their own community before our work, and this figure
dropped to 36% after)
• A 64% decrease in those who felt unsafe going out of their area.
(95% felt unsafe going outside of their area this also dropped
after our work to 34%)
• And a 45% increase in those who would contact the police if
they had a problem. (Before only 40% would tell the police if
they had a problem. That number rose after our work to 58%)
• Reduction of 1476 ASB incidents
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14. Speaking about the work, Kim Cooper said:
“I enjoyed every minute of being a Young Advisor, but the best thing
was being part of multi- agency groups and local, regional and
national stakeholder events. It made me feel like a valued member of
society and gave me a brilliant chance to speak out for young people
and to be heard. Knowing that your, and other young peoples’,
opinions were being taken seriously and action was being taken was
really important.”
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15. Other Young Advisor Quotes
“Being a Young Advisor was a life-changing experience for me and got
me on a really positive career path. It is an amazing opportunity for
young people and the wider community. It definitely changed my life
and kept me on the straight and narrow. I now want to aim higher,
change my community for the better, and make something of my life.”
Kim Cooper
“Being a Young Advisor, I developed a vast amount of skills that not
only would benefit me as a Young Advisor but also as a person and in
life. I gained a lot of experience from projects that I participated in. The
training that we delivered not only helped the people we were training
but also helped myself as the trainer.” Brian Mok
“Becoming a Young Advisor has changed my life. It has taught me so
much about myself and helped me to grow as a person, increasing my
confidence and my people skills.
Young Advisors has given me the opportunity to work alongside my
community to make changes that benefit everyone. I have been able
to consult with both adults and young people; using this information to
get the most out of services and funding.” Katy Russell
“My role within Young Advisors has given me a great deal of
confidence and experience of the work place. I've met a variety of
contacts through my work and learnt plenty about a whole host of
subjects involving young people. Young Advisors has given me a great
opportunity to positively influence my community for the better.” Matt
Smith
“Being a Young Advisor has shown me how much thought goes into
every decision and how important it is to get a range of views and
opinions to make the right decisions.” Daisy Seepersad
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