Youth Cab History
The Youth Cabinet began in 2001 with a pilot project in Haywards Heath. Young people from the three main schools
in the county and some youth groups were brought together to talk about issues that affected their lives.
From
this they held debates at county hall, which showed that young people had views on many issues and wanted to be heard.
As
this group proved to be a great success, the project was launched county-wide in September 2001 with an election. Following
this, the first full Youth Cabinet was formed with geographically representative members.
In addition, four members
of the UK Youth Parliament were elected in order to represent the county at national level. They attend the UKYP Annual Sitting
each year and represent the views of young people at big events and through the national campaigns.
The benefits that this new group brought were:
- Issues and opinions from all areas were brought together
- They were a direct point of contact with and shadow group for the Adult Cabinet
- Their organisation and administration was situated within the Chief Executives team, which gave them more of an influence on policies and decision-making.
The cabinet used to be split into portfolio groups which mirrored the Adult Cabinet. Each Youth Cabinet member would choose a group dealing with topics they were most concerned about and work together on issues within those groups. The groups were:
- Highways and Transport
- Healthy Living
- Community Safety
- Equality of Opportunity
- Environment
- Education
Recently, the Youth Cabinet has changed the way it is structured in order to focus more on projects than topics, such as:
- The 3in1 Card - Expanding what is available and working on better discounts in shops and for transport.
- Eco-Schools - championing the international Eco-Schools initiative with resources, guidance pack and a film, all made by the Youth Cabinet. Also, creating a fund for schools, managed and allocated by the Youth Cabinet;
- Europe - working with the Assembly of European Regions on issues that affect young people and rolling out a European Parliament funded project 'Do you speak European' containing a resource pack made by young people and Europeers (peer training programme); working with the AER Youth Regional Network and sending a Youth Ambassador to the AER Summer School.
- Associate Governors - putting together a campaign that would have students on their school governing body, which would get students in to influence school decision makers.
- Sex and Relationships Education - Investigating services in the county; trying to shape a better SRE curriculum in schools
- Improving school councils - creating a school councils conference planning group focussing on health and a project looking at what makes a good school council; shaping Moving Out Of The Toilets '09 (school council conference) - This year the theme is 'Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll!'
- Film making - making films that help portray young people in a better public image, and to provide information for young people.
- Promoting Democracy - events such as Local Democracy Day, and the Youth Cabinet Elections are aimed at helping young people understand the political process.