Youth Ambassador Scheme
Written by Liv, one of our Youth Ambassadors:
As somebody who has lived experience of child poverty, when the opportunity arose to contribute to meaningful work with the Coalition I jumped at the chance. Often discussions in the media can be very one sided and do not truly show a reflection of the realities of lived experience, I really wanted to be the person which helped shape that narrative to what it is really like for young people – there was really no other better way than the youth ambassador scheme.
I have met a group of hugely inspiring young people sharing
discussions about which impact of child poverty we would like to focus our efforts on to create a campaign. It has been so refreshing sharing a space with people who are so motivated by a genuine interest in making young peoples lives better.
I have had the opportunity to sensitively share snippets of my own lived experience, whilst being supported by the other ambassadors and the charity on national news, with MP’s and through blog posts. There really is a plethora of ways to get involved – lived experience or not.
If you are somebody who is keen to see young peoples views truly represented and listened to please consider applying for the scheme.
Details of how to apply will be shown here, when the next round of recruitment begins.
About the scheme
The Youth Ambassador scheme was developed to ensure that the voices and experience of young people was included in the work of the Coalition. So far Youth Ambassadors have:
- Contributed to the development of positions held by the
Youth Ambassadors speaking at an event in the House of Commons
Coalition, by feeding in knowledge and experience
- Provided written accounts of growing up in low income families for internal and external publications
- Produced, and help design, an ‘Action Toolkit‘ which aims to help groups of young people begin talking about, and acting on, issues of poverty
- Attended a media training session
- Provided quotes and taken part in media interviews to promote the annual Local Child Poverty statistics
- Worked on a campaign plan to highlight the impact of the ‘cost of living crisis’ on young people
No one should have to keep quiet about poverty
Young person with lived experience of growing up in poverty
Two friends, Amelia and Naomi share their different experiences of poverty and the impact it has had