The Voice of the Future: Players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Street League Championing Youth Voice in the Third Sector
Street League is undertaking a transformative initiative to champion youth voice internally and within the sector.
In order to deliver the best programmes possible, Street League has recognised the need to put young people at the heart of the organisation at all levels. Why? There are 1.12 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 on earth, about 16% of the global population. By 2030, this figure is expected to grow to nearly 1.3 billion. And when this portion of the population are heard and supported, amazing things can happen. We’ve all seen the incredible youth climate movement that has been inspired by Greta Thunberg’s School Strike 4 Climate protests. Throughout the world, young people are speaking up and standing up for their future, and Street League is here to listen and learn.
Over the last two years, players of People's Postcode Lottery have supported Street League to develop a youth voice strategy and find new ways to put young people front and centre. One of their most exciting developments is the creation of a new Youth Board in Scotland.
Dougie Stevenson, Chief Executive Officer at Street League, said: “At Street League, we know it’s important to hear what young people have to say about the programmes we deliver and how we can improve them and our delivery content. Empowering young people to shape and lead our programmes involves going beyond feedback forums and collecting testimonials. To run successful programmes to help young people out of poverty and unemployment, we need to listen wholeheartedly to their needs, experiences, and ideas. Then do our very best to turn them into actions. We’re incredibly grateful to the vital funds awarded by Postcode Active Trust that helped kickstart this initiative, giving young people the platform to be heard.”
Working alongside expert partner Children in Scotland, Street League launched their Youth Board in 2022. Engaging two internal frontline staff members as Youth Board Leads, the inaugural Youth Board consists of Scott Lowles (24, Inverclyde), Paul Burnett (19, Dundee), Suzi Mengis (21, Glasgow), Euan Dunlop (16, Edinburgh and the Lothians), and Teri Mooney (15, Renfrewshire).
“I’m excited to be working on the Youth Board initiative alongside my fellow Street League staff and Children in Scotland,” said Graham Reid, Progressions Coordinator and Youth Board Lead at Street League. “We know that our programmes make a positive impact in the lives of so many young people already, but we’re always looking to do more and to be the best version of Street League we can be. I truly believe that this group can have a strong influence on the future of the charity, ensuring our programmes are meeting the needs and wants of young people today. I also hope that this chance to be seen and heard can be a transformative opportunity for the young people involved, showing them that they can be the leaders in their communities.
With the Board members in place, the next step was getting everyone together for the first meeting – not the easiest task with everyone spread out in regions across Scotland. With that in mind, the Youth Board met for the first time in September 2022 online via Teams. Having switched to online programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Street League staff are all too aware of the issues around digital poverty and equal access, so each young person was invited along to their nearest Street League location where they could take part using Street League resources and be with a local staff member. The team also wanted it to be a comfortable environment, allowing young people to choose whether to turn their cameras on and ensuring everyone had a chance to be heard.
Adding to the technical challenges in place, the group had never met or been part of an imitative like this before, but this was their chance to break the ice and decide how they want to shape the Youth Board as their own. And it wasn’t long before their shared experiences and ideas bonded them. Each young person had recently been part of a Street League programme, and although they have a variety of backgrounds and reasoning for joining, they could all agree on one thing: young people like them need more support to achieve their goals.
Scott Lowles, Street League Youth Board member from Inverclyde, said: "When the opportunity came to join the Youth Board, I accepted it for two reasons. The first was to continue building up my character, to become more engaging and confident. The second was to hopefully be someone who could help other young people receive the help that I have had.”
Meeting again in November 2022, this time in person at Glasgow’s Flip Out trampoline park, the group further solidified their goals and plans. They put together a group agreement, discussed possible names, taglines and logos for the Youth Board, and of course, took part in some fun trampoline activities. But most importantly, they identified their key focus themes as wellbeing, education, employment, sport/fitness, and future, and started to discuss the ways services aimed at young people need to be addressing each issue and the ways in which they are intrinsically linked. Building on this going forward, the group will continue to discuss each issue in more detail and start to enact change.
As the Youth Board progresses, they will play a vital role in the charity’s service development and will be the sounding board for change and expansions. From the qualifications delivered to how programmes and services are promoted, their voice will be heard at all levels of the organisation. Although the initiative has started in Scotland for now, the charity works UK wide and is already planning to extend additional Board places to young people in England in 2023. After all, having gone through the programmes themselves, who better to listen to and learn from?
Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “We are delighted that players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised over £1 Billion to support such great causes. I’m so pleased player support has led to the Youth Board being established with young people from Scotland, and it’s great to hear places are available for young people in England to join next year. It is so important to have a place for young people to be heard and actively participate in design and decisions on initiatives which are relevant and engaging for young people.’’
By embracing youth voice and allowing young people to have a say in shaping the sport and employability services provided by Street League, we can help to make opportunities more relevant, more fun, and enable more young people to get the support they need to thrive. Embedding youth voice doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s worth the investment.
Find out more about People’s Postcode Lottery and the Postcode Active Trust here.
Find out more about Street League here.
