Laying our foundations: Young people’s role in shaping the new EYHC

As End Youth Homelessness Cymru continues the journey of establishing ourselves as an independent charity, it’s of central importance to us that young people are playing a vital role in shaping what our charity should look like, how it should act, and what it needs to prioritize. So, last week we hosted a group of ten young people to help us develop our new mission statement, vision, and values as an organisation. 

Young people travelled from all over Wales to spend the day with us in Cardiff, and we kicked off  with a tour of the BBC Studios in the heart of the city. This was a great experience and a brilliant opportunity for the young people to learn about broadcasting, especially those in our cohort who are interested in a future career in journalism.

We were taken around various radio and TV studios, including the iconic BBC Wales Today set, where we got to cosplay as newsreaders and bust out our best Derek the Weather impressions.

After a busy morning and a well-earned lunch break, we spent the afternoon discussing with the young people what EYHC’s mission and values should be as an organisation.

For the afternoon session, we delivered a workshop which encouraged the young people to consider what they need from organisations like EYHC. We prompted them with questions like —

In 10 years, what should 20 year old young people have access to that you currently do not?

What are the most important things that you currently have in your life?

How can we better amplify young people’s voices?

How do we make sure youth homelessness is on the political agenda?

There was a brilliant energy throughout the afternoon with the passionate young people being encouraged to express their ideas on how to improve things for future generations. 

We are currently in the process of formally collating those conversations to turn into our official mission statement, vision, and values as a charity. But there were some themes that emerged on the day that are worth discussing below.

Boredom

The young people, some of whom live in the in cities in the south and others in rural parts of mid and north Wales, all agreed that there is a fundamental lack of things to do. All they’re asking for, essentially, is for access to free public spaces in which they can exist peacefully with other young people. But without such spaces, which are sadly few and far between, there aren’t a lot of ways to socialise outside of drugs and alcohol use.

Isolation

Similarly, they spoke of the difficulty they have in meeting other young people, especially those who live in rural areas.

Transport

Transport is an issue that comes up time and again in our conversations with young people, and is closely linked to the issues of boredom and isolation. Without adequate transport infrastructure, young people are limited not just socially, but in terms of education and employment opportunities.

Youth Work & Support

When we asked the young people about the things they have in their lives that are important to them, they often pointed to the support they have from third sector organisations and/or local authority youth workers. They all considered their personal support networks to be one of the most important things in their lives, and the support they receive from youth workers is paramount in creating and maintaining these networks.

As we collate these conversations into our new foundations as a charity, it’s important to thank the young people for their contributions, and acknowledge that there is no End Youth Homelessness Cymru without their input. If you are a young person reading this, or support a young person you think may be interested in being involved in our campaign, please encourage them to reach out via our social media channels or to drop us an email on eyhc@llamau.org.uk.