New district youth council set to give young people a voice

Recently I attended the first Harborough Youth Council meeting with lots of other local young people to discuss issues that affect us.

I joined to try to make a positive difference to my wonderful community. It was a lovely environment to talk to others and I met some great people. Plus, the Speak Out magazine was there to flick through- it was a pleasure to see our work read by others.

We selected the issues that mattered most to us; protecting the environment and helping young people gain the skills and experience they need to enter the workplace were some of the key ones that we have chosen to carry forward and address as a Youth Council.

In the second meeting, which I was unfortunately unable to attend, the other young people gained an insight into the political processes of the council and were allowed to delve deeper into areas that were important to them.

In our third meeting, we discussed the National Youth Strategy, a ‘national listening exercise’ which aims to give young people a platform to express their worries, hopes and ambitions. We were also given scenarios in which young people were struggling to find employment or opportunities for skill development, and we recognised the challenges and came up with some solutions. 

Our fourth meeting took place in Lutterworth just after the Easter holidays. We got to see the council housing and business development plans on a map and discuss this with the people at the council who work on town planning. We asked questions and raised concerns. We also looked to the future to talk about attracting new members in September and the roles that we will have, such as chair and vice-chair, treasurer and social media engagement manager.

Afterwards, we enjoy a slice of pizza! Yum!