About YAB
The YAA Youth Advisory Board (YAB) is open to young people aged 11-18 years old who live, study, or work in Kensington & Chelsea. As ambassadors, YAB members work closely with the YAA leadership team and other staff across the charity to ensure the voice and youth perspective of young people are at the heart of everything we do.
YAB provides feedback on the quality and experiences of the services that we provides so that we can make the improvements and adjustments that young people would like to see across our work.
““The vision for YAB is to inspire and motivate young people to create a vision that they can thrive and can make changes to their environment, community and the wider world and lead other young people to do the same.” ”
Our Goal
We aim to amplify young people’s voices and help YAA to hold children and young people’s voices at the heart of everything we do. The Youth Advisory Board will provide feedback on the quality and experiences of the services that we provides so that we can make the improvements and adjustments that young people would like to see across our work.
Benefits of joining YAB
As a Youth Advisory Board member you will have the opportunity to learn new skills such as team work, organisation, creativity and critical thinking. You will also get the opportunity to meet new people, shape and get stuck into projects across YAA’s services, including fundraising, campaigning and media and communications. Being on the YAB will also look fantastic on your CV’s.
“I wanted to attend the Youth Advisory Board because I wanted to be part of a group that did something for the community and this sounded like something that will help our community. I thought it might also help me to become more confident because I find it very hard to speak in a group when I don’t know anyone, I am very shy so I wanted to push myself.”
“The reason why I joined this Youth Advisory Board is because I want to help other young people overcome stress and become confident and flourish just like I have since being a member. I have made lots of new friends and I love working with them and helping young peoples lives. I want to try and help young people feel safer especially around the roads and we are making a difference with this.”
“I am so glad I joined the Youth Advisory Board, I am much more confident to speak in front of this group, I don’t feel nervous because its like having discussions with friends, no one judges me, I don’t know why I was scared because we all want the same things to make a difference and be safer in our community” “I have learnt how to stop someone from bleeding and how to keep someone alive, I never knew this before and now if I saw an accident I know what to do to help”. “My friends have all said I am not so quiet anymore and I think its because of the Youth Advisory Board, we talk a lot”. ”
Progress
YAB has made significant strides over the past year, supporting young people to grow in both confidence and capabilities.
In 2023/24 20 young people participated in our youth advisory board and we delivered 155 sessions.
Through participation in YAA events, YAB members have gained invaluable work experience by engaging with peers and gathering feedback on services. They have received training on critical first aid skills, including bleed control, and played a key role in distributing bleed kits to schools within the borough—a project that is currently progressing through meetings with school leadership teams.
In 2024 YAB collaborated with the renowned artist Phillip Butah, producing self-portraits, and worked in partnership with The Metropolitan Police, London’s Violence Reduction Unit, Mayor of London's Office and The London Fire Brigade. We also worked with The Natural History Museum on an environmental project, with young people’s artwork exhibited in the Jerwood Gallery. Our young members have also successfully applied for, and been awarded the Young K&C Youth Voice Grant, fostering teamwork and learning new skills.
Meet our YAB MEMBERS
The senior leadership members
Our Senior Leadership for the youth advisory board are key in driving the work that YAB does. These members were voted into position by young people.
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Chair of Youth Advisory Board (YAB)
Hey, I'm Julia and I am the chair for YAB, I've been a member since it started a year ago. I joined in the hope of creating a community of young people like myself to speak out and create change. Being a part of this board I can confidently say that I'm in a community of young people that care and put in effort to get their voices and opinions heard.
For years I complained about how young people are perceived and not heard, and taking part In YAB allows me to make a positive changes and it does make a difference, our voice is your voice.
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Vice Chair of Youth Advisory Board
Hello my name is Lucas and I have been a member of the YAB for a year now. I have been voted by other members as vice chair and I would recommend to anyone wanting to be part of making a difference and change to important issues that effect young people, join and have your voice heard.
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Secretary of Youth Advisory Board
Hi I'm Ria and I am the new secretary for the YAB. I have been a member of this board for a year and I joined because I wanted to have my voice and opinions and ideas heard. I wanted to help other young people and be part of something special. Being a board member allows us to discuss very difficult issues that effect us all and work together to come up with ideas to support one another in the wider community.
Other YAb members
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Youth Advisory Board Member
Hi my name is Caroline and I have been in the Youth Advisory Board for over a year now. I joined YAB because I wanted to make changes in the community and I really wanted to make the area safer overall for everyone. As a member of YAA and YAB I have been given great opportunities to make new friends.
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Youth Advisory Board Member
My name is Gabriella and I have been with YAB for a year now and it is great. The board is a great way to express your own opinion on matters that effect us all and support and make changes that we would all like to see to make our community better. It has been a great way to make new friends and to feel part of this community.
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Youth Advisory Board Member
My name is Kim and I am a part of the Youth Advisory Board. I joined at the start of this academic year and its my first time joining a group like this. I feel honoured to be a part of this board and I look forward to having the opportunity to discover more about myself and what I want in my future. The events YAA put on help us to socialise with other people.
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Youth Advisory Board Member
Hello my name is Faith and I have been a committed member of YAB for year now. My friends told me about this opportunity when I was in year 7 so I joined and I have not looked back since. The Youth Action Alliance do amazing work in the community and that’s why I’m still part of the board. I want to help other young people and I want to become a better person and being part of YAB is helping me to achieve this. We can all make the world a better place, it takes one person to start a change!
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Youth Advisory Board Member
Hi my name is Alexis and I recently joined YAB and I am the newest YAB member.
I joined because I have seen the work YAB have been doing and I wanted to be part of this amazing group. I want to make a difference if I can and I feel very grateful that I am a part of a group where young people are able to talk about all their concerns and the flaws we see in society today and we actually look for solutions to make things better for young people.
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Youth Advisory Board Member
My name is Krizzle and I have chosen to join YAA and be part of the Youth Advisory Board because I made a decision that I wanted to look at ways to make change to the flaws in our society. I want to be part of this group of young people that all want change and want to make things better for our youth in the community. I want to help with charity work and volunteer at YAA events and I know that the YAB will help to teach me more about our society and how to improve it.
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Youth Advisory Board Member
Hello I am Dianne and I am a new member to YAA and I have recently joined the Youth Advisory Board. I wanted to join the board because I really want to help other young people and volunteer at different YAA events. If we can help the challenges young people face in any way possible then we are are making a difference. The YAB is the best way to start to create change from the young people for the young people.
Joining details
The Youth Advisory Board is a FREE project. Young people are asked to commit to at least one academic year.
Where and when:
The group meet fortnightly on Wednesdays 3.15pm - 4.30pm at All Saints Catholic College. We also have sessions alternatively on Wednesdays online 6pm - 7pm.
Food and refreshments are provided.
Join now:
To apply to join our Youth Advisory Board, contact Patricia Moorhead on patricia.moorhead@youthactionalliance.org or call 07534 403501
Joining cirteria
To join YAA Youth Advisory board you must:
be 11-18 years old
live, study, or work in Kensington & Chelsea
commit to at least 1 academic year
be open to exploring new opportunities and learning new skills
Contact
Patricia Moorhead
patricia.moorhead@youthactionalliance.org
07534 403501