The Youth of Today

The Youth of Today is a consortium of leading organisations working together to increase the quality, quantity and diversity of opportunities for young people as leaders of change in their communities.

Visit the Youth of Today website: http://www.theyouthoftoday.org/

Join the campaign!

Do you believe the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow? Are you tired of the negative portrayal of young people in the media? If so, pledge your support for the youth of today and become a fan on facebook.

The Youth Of Today consortium is made up of six leading youth organisations:

The National Youth Agency is England’s national youth sector support agency. It supports those involved in young people's personal and social development to enable all young people to fulfill their potential. It also seeks to improve the life chances of young people and to develop their voice and influence.

The NYA is the lead partner in the consortium, responsible to the DFE for the fulfillment of the contract.  It is also involved in work on establishing and publicising a matrix of leadership opportunities for young people and on a strand of work challenging government and the public sector to involve young leaders in their work. 

Changemakers is widely recognised as one of the country’s leading authorities on youth leadership, and was an early champion of giving young people meaningful leadership opportunities. As well as running its own Future Leaders programme, Changemakers also supports other organisations to develop their approach to youth leadership.

Changemakers are responsible for all communications around The Youth of Today.  Changemakers lead on the intern and apprenticeship programmes; on the Fellowship and on ensuring that the programme can be seen to be young people led through the coordination of the Youth Leadership Teams and the Youth Scrutiny Group.

The Young Foundation is a centre for social innovation. Its main goal is to speed up society’s ability to respond to changing needs through innovating and replicating new methods and models. A number of its activities promote youth leadership including the UpRising leadership programme and Learning Launchpad, an early stage social fund developing promising ideas into new organisations that enable young people to make a successful transition to adulthood.

The Young Foundation run the Youth Leadership Fund on behalf of The Youth of Today and will undertake and publish research from around the world into best practice youth leadership. 

The Prince’s Trust helps change young lives by giving practical and financial support to the young people who need it most. It helps develop key skills, confidence and motivation, enabling young people to move into work, education or training.

The Prince's Trust have responsibility for the Campaign which will highlight young people as leaders. 

The British Youth Council (BYC) is led by young people, for young people aged 26 and under across the UK. It connects with a community of member organisations and network of Local Youth Councils to empower all young people, wherever they’re from, to have a say and be heard. Their take on training and volunteering and its powerful campaigns, both local and global, inspire young people to have a positive impact and make their voices count.

The British Youth Council are undertaking a programme where young people will spend time shadowing local councilors to learn and see how leadership works locally. 

The UK Youth Parliament supports young people aged 11 to 18 to use their energy and passion to change the world for the better. It works with partners to provide young leaders with the guidance, tools and contacts to enable them to make a difference.

The UK Youth Parliament are running a strand which sees young people shadowing government ministers so that the young people can see how national leadership works. 

Both the councilor and ministerial shadowing programmes are supported by the department for Communities and Local Government (CLG)

The National Youth Agency team working on The Youth Of Today are:

Simon Hargrave - Programme Manager
Tel: 07793 631099