Youth Council

Hillingdon Youth Council is a group that represents the young people of Hilingdon and provides a voice for young people who live, study or work in the borough of Hillingdon.

The Youth Council meets every Monday at the Civic Centre, Uxbridge and are involved in planning and facilitating the annual youth conference carrying out project work, based on the needs expressed by young people and consultation work with other young people.

Responsibilities of the Youth Council members

• Meeting with the Corporate Management team from the council every three months and raising issues that concern young people.
• Organizing and running the annual young people's conference.
• Carrying out project work about issues that are raised by young people at the annual conference. For example the Sexual Health poster campaign.
• Attending specific department meetings to ensure young people are involved in the decision making.

The Youth Council meets with the Councils Management Board and also the Youth and Connexions Services Senior Management Team on a Quarterly basis, to feed back views and concerns.

It may sound like HYC is a very formal group and only for the most politically minded, but it's not! The reason for joining HYC for many of its members has not been due to the fact that they love politics, but because they want to show adults what young people really want and what young people can do.

The following aims form HYC's manifesto:

• To ensure that you and other young people are actively involved in Hillingdon Council.
• To enable young people aged 13-19 to discuss current themes and issues relevant to you as a young person living in Hillingdon
• To get you actively involved in the design and delivery of services for young people.
• To enable local councillors, council departments, other agencies and the voluntary sector to receive your feedback and advice on issues relevant to young people living in the borough.
• To enable you to inform the Council's strategic planning and decision making process.
• To act as the umbrella forum for other young people's groups or forums in the Borough in order to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to participate in the democratic process.
• To enable Hillingdon's two members of the UK Youth Parliament to receive feedback from young people. And vice versa.
• To have voice on, and influence, various committees.

The Youth Council is made up of a variety of young people all from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds from the ages of 13 to 19. They meet each week to discuss issues and work on specific projects but its exciting and can make a real difference to young people's lives in the borough. New members are recruited through elections held yearly in the borough but if you would like more information:

Sylvester Swanston

t. 01895 5556721
e. sswanston@hillingdon.gov.uk

Read about some of the success projects carried out by the Youth Council.

Join the Youth Council on Facebook »
Find out what's happening in the Hillingdon Youth Council. Join their Facebook Group for a chance to have your say and get your voice heard.

Take a look at Youth Council's Flickr photo gallery