We’re Going to Party Conferences!

At UK Youth we are really excited to be heading to the Conservative and Labour Party Conferences in October this year with some of the young people that we work with. We will be there to champion the power of youth work and the voices of young people to politicians and decision makers, and making a noise about the power of youth in a space where it can often be forgotten!

At the Conservative Party Conference we will be hosting a panel discussion on ‘The Power of Outdoor Learning and Youth Work’, where we are really excited to be launching our new policy report on improving access to outdoor learning. The panel will be chaired by a young person, and we will be joined by Robin Millar MP, a young person from UK Youth, Katie Jackson (Head of Policy at the Scouts), Ryan Denton (Advocate at the Scouts) and more!

The panel will be taking place on Monday 2^nd October from 4:15-5:15pm in the Youth Zone, we would love to see you there if you are attending the conference!

Whilst we are there we will also be attending other events from across the sector to champion youth work, as well as meeting with politicians and spreading the word about supporting young people everywhere we can!

Attending the Conservative Party Conference with us are Pelumi Fatayo and Bill Curtis. They have both shared a bit about themselves below:

Pelumi Fatayo

‘My name is Pelumi I am 23 years old recent master’s graduate, from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), where I studied Computer Science. Over the past year I’ve been working in the Greater Manchester area for a young people’s and family service. In the role as a evaluator, I and my colleague were getting feedback from young people about the services they interacted with, then using the results from these feedback consultations to try and make services better. Outside of this I am a creative and a content creator. I do a podcast called Crisis Talk where we debate, discuss and dissect the issues affecting society.’

Billy Curtis

I’m 14 years old, and from Manchester. I have been involved in youth voice since 2020, and last year I got to speak in the House of Commons (whilst I was the Member of Youth Parliament for Trafford). I have my own Newshour on a local radio station too. I’m interested in news, philosophy and football.

At the Labour Party Conference we will be hosting a panel discussion on ‘Youth Work as a Key Solution’, where we will be talking about how youth work can hold the key to answering some of the big challenges facing young people in today’s society. The panel will be chaired by a young person and we will be joined by Kayleigh Wainwright (Director of Youth Sector Innovation at UK Youth, a young person from UK Youth, Baz Ramaiah (Head of Policy at The Centre for Education and Youth) and more!

The panel will be taking place on Monday 9^th October from 5:30-6:30pm in the Youth Zone, we would love to see you there if you are attending the conference!

Whilst we are there we will also be attending other events from across the sector to champion youth work, as well as meeting with politicians and spreading the word about supporting young people everywhere we can!

Attending the Labour Party Conference with us are Finty Royle and Rosie Smith. They have both shared a bit about themselves below:

Finty Royle

Finty is a medical student and activist working at the intersection of climate change and health. She is an youth advisor for the Association for Young People’s health as well as both an #iwill and National Autistic Society Ambassador. She is passionate about empowering young people to overcome struggles and reach their goals.

Rosie Smith

‘I love being involved with youth social action, being able to help others unlocks so many opportunities for myself and it makes me have a smile of my face 24/7. I am involved with the LFC Foundation Youth panel and we do so much within our community and other communities we have focused on hidden poverty and every Christmas we come up with ideas on how we can help others at Christmas we also done a walk up Moel Fameu and raised over £500. I am also an #iwill ambassador and being a part of the movement is amazing you get to do lots of things for example say you have an idea but unsure on how to make it bigger the #iwill movement are the to help make your idea bigger and better.’

We are super grateful to Finty and Rosie for attending the Labour Party Conference with us, if you see us around please do say hi!

If you have any questions or would like to meet up at conference, please get in touch with Kate Roberts at kate.roberts@ukyouth.org