Emma has been working with our organisation for two years, from her involvement in the Peer Research project to becoming a Young Trustee on our Board! Here’s Emma’s story in her own words…
The Youth Association provides many amazing opportunities whilst letting young people make decisions that will benefit themselves. During sessions we discussed what we would like to focus on and what we want to work towards. Me and my peers decided we wanted to make a short film about the barriers within creative arts which meant so much to us all as journalism students. We all came up with the ideas ourselves and planned everything from scripts to how we would film. The Youth Association provided us with all the tools and connections we needed to make our idea a reality. Experiences like this not only help CV’s and university applications for young people but it also builds up important life skills such as confidence, taking responsibility and social skills. Projects like this also involve the local community which I believe to be very important. To make this film The Youth Association showed us how to get in contact with different creative youth charities and organisations so we could incorporate their views and ideas into this project to help convey our message.
As well as this we decided to plan a premiere for our short film. Us young people were given a budget and took control in organising the event whilst receiving help along the way from the youth workers. The freedom we had within this project allowed us all to feel confident within our work and make creative decisions.
Throughout working with the Youth Association, the youth workers have always listened and acted on any feedback. For example, we wanted to do some sessions around interviewing to prepare and develop our skills for conducting interviews for our short film. We simply asked the youth workers during our current session, and we all came up with a plan on what we could focus on in the next few sessions. We ended up doing role plays and mock interviews which really benefited us within making the film but also in general as it made us all feel more confident with real life interviews. The Youth Association has always made me feel heard and taken on board any feedback me and my peers have given.
From the first time working with The Youth Association, they have always let us take control and have a say in the activities we participate in. As young people we are encouraged to get involved and put our ideas forward which creates a welcoming environment to share our thoughts. During sessions we’d be asked our ideas by youth workers which would always get acknowledged and discussed by the rest of the group to explore our opinions. The Youth Association has provided me and many other young people with the opportunities to create and lead our own projects which has really helped so many people.