by the Young People's Action Group
Youth Takeover Day 2022 was a day to celebrate young people, championing their voice and supporting their access to opportunities and networking.
The Violence Reduction Unit’s Young People’s Action Group (YPAG) organised and delivered this year’s event, opening up the doors of London’s City Hall so young Londoners could enjoy a jam-packed day of meeting new people, businesses and London leaders.
The atmosphere at City Hall was buzzing with various businesses and the likes of HM Prison and Probation, Metropolitan police, University of Greenwich, UCL, Young Brent Foundation, The Princes Trust and Local Village Network all in attendance.
Youth Takeover Day is so important, not just as an event, but what it symbolises and its integral role it has to the work that both the YPAG and the London VRU does. It demonstrates the importance of young people leading from the front and being involved in delivering positive opportunities for young people in our city.
As a team of young people organising the event, a real highlight was seeing everyone in action, supporting each other and working together to deliver for young Londoners. Reannah carried out vox pops throughout the day, Jade was on a stall with the Prince’s Trust and facilitating a workshop for young people, Leonita, Sultan, Tianna and Natalie facilitated the Social Switch Project workshop, and Mya-Chloe chaperoned the VRU Director around the stalls at the event. Members across the team had various roles and it served to highlight how flexible and productive we work together as a united team.
There are so many good opportunities for young people across London, but they are not always marketed or as accessible as they could or perhaps should be.
We think employers need to strengthen their advertising and comms teams by using young people to lead and advise in ways to market. Having a youth advisory panel is the best way to ensure that businesses are building projects that are truly for young people and made by young people. This ensures that businesses can get their messages out into the world!
One thing a business could do to better encourage support for young people and inspire other companies is by using social media. Sharing ideas online can often spark creativity and the online world is where our young people are.
Youth Takeover Day wasn't just about businesses and organisations connecting with young people; it was also an opportunity to learn more about the views of young people.
There were workshops listening to the views of young people and providing information around positive relationships, digital skills and online health. In a world where young people are more connected now than ever through the internet, it is vital for young people to be aware of how they interact with others, both in person and online.
Although the YPAG team all had their designated roles, it didn’t stop us from weaving in and out of other member’s roles and helping where we could.
We were also involved in the final element of the day, which was an opportunity for young people to quiz London leaders. We invited Deputy Mayors covering areas such as transport, social integration and children and young Londoners, to speak about what they do for young people, and they took questions and were challenged about what more they could do.
It was a strong end to the day, and we helped facilitate the panel through Jonas who worked alongside the VRU Director in ensuring young people were able to put their views across.
If we could describe Youth Takeover Day in just three words, it would be: eventful, interactive and a vibe. These words just mirror what the day was all about. The energy in the room was high and interactions between everyone was truly great.
If you want to see how it went for yourself, check out our video of the day below.
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