COVID-19 has had a huge impact on all Londoners, but especially young people, who have seen the pandemic affect our mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and access to jobs and training opportunities. It has been very challenging but being part of the Youth Recovery Board (YRB) gives us the opportunity to share what matters to us and come up with solutions that will help create a better London. The YRB was set up to make sure young people’s views and voices were represented across all of the nine recovery missions and that’s exactly what we have been working hard to do.
Set up in October 2021, we are a group of young Londoners from a diverse range of backgrounds and we each represent a variety of London-based organisations such as Peer Outreach Workers and the London Youth Assembly. One of our main responsibilities is attending regular meetings to discuss the priorities of young people and advise the London Recovery Board and other important steering groups (such as Anchor Institutions) on important issues and areas of change we feel are needed for young Londoners. This is a unique and exciting task as we are the first YRB and we have been trusted to support this important programme of work.
We feel our involvement in London’s Recovery Programme is important as it shows we finally get a voice and the chance to represent the needs of a diverse range of young people. The YRB has allowed us to amplify the perspectives of young Londoners and work towards offering tangible solutions, helping us to provide crucial support for young people and show them that the future is better than anything they could ever imagine.
The first London Recovery Board meeting we were invited to attend was in December 2021. We were given a slot to present on important issues such as mental health, education and the need to create more opportunities for young people. We took this presentation very seriously and over the course of three months attended weekly meetings to discuss, prepare and speak openly with each other about how to best represent our views. We were given freedom and flexibility to be as creative and as passionate as we liked, empowering us to learn from each other as we reflected and talked openly about our most important issues. We have created a warm, welcoming and fun environment where alongside meeting new people from across London, we’ve found out our similarities by listening to each other’s shared experiences, bounced ideas off each other and advocated for change. We have learnt so much working with different young people and other members of the GLA, and it has given us the incredible opportunity to present to important decision makers such as the Mayor of London himself.
Presenting at the board meeting has been a positive experience and upon reflection an amazing thing to get involved in. Our hope is that we get to see the results of our actions and that the decisions made by London's most senior leaders reflect our experiences and recommendations. We’d like processes put in place that mean we can see the progress being made as that will be proof of our impact and will help us learn both how decision-making works and how the changes are implemented. We’re passionate about making sure hope, opportunities and influence are handed to other young people and we’re excited to see what the future holds.