Engaging young people in social action

by Former Member

Tuesday 24th February 2015

It’s fantastic to see so much focus on ‘social action’ at the moment, but what’s it all about? Youth social action is really about involving more young people in practical action to support others – in a whole range of different ways, whether it’s painting your local youth club, befriending someone who is feeling isolated, helping in a charity shop or driving a mini bus for the local netball team – volunteering is all about using your personal capacity and time to benefit a cause you care about.

At Get Connected we recognise the valuable contribution young people make to our society. We’re committed to helping young people (you!) to feel confident no matter what life turns up so we support young people through our support services, but young people also help us by volunteering throughout our organisation.

As a key part of our new Digital Connectors programme, we’re opening up volunteering opportunities to more people all over the country and making it easier to help others from your own home. We believe this will help overcome some of the potential barriers people face to helping others, such as mobility, time, geography and cost. Our training and support will ensure you’re prepared and supported to help others, and you’ll learn valuable skills along the way, as well as feeling a warm glow from helping someone get their life on track – or reassuring them help is there and they’re not alone.

We also offer the chance for young people to gain work experience with us in a variety of volunteer positions throughout the organisation. Some people would call these internships, but unfortunately we cannot afford to pay a wage only expenses. You will gain a lot of skills and experience along the way, and many of our young volunteers have gone on to work either with us or at other organisations who value the experience they’ve gained from volunteering.

As a youth charity it’s crucial that young people are engaged in our thinking, so we are getting more young people involved as part of our Youth Advisory Panel, helping to feed into and sense-check our service developments and influence our communication strategies.

Through all of this work, we’re making the most of the energy, talent and commitment that young people have to give and we’re working towards making a positive difference to the world we live in.
Hear more about why I think social action is so important in My Brilliant Moment from the Community Channel:

We’re also delighted to be supporting the #iwill campaign – find out more at www.iwill.org.uk

This post was originally part of the Get Connected website. YouthNet and Get Connected merged to form The Mix in 2016.