If you’re aged between 11 to 25 years old then there are two exciting new initiatives you can get involved with which will help us as an organisation to develop and grow. You’ll get to meet new people, make new friends, share your opinions on a whole host of topics – and best of all you’ll have tons of fun doing it!
For over 10 Years at Unloc we’ve facilitated a wide variety of dynamic and engaging programmes to enhance student voice across the many institutions and organisations we work with across the UK. As we continue to grow and expand our reach, young people more than ever need to be at the centre of those decisions.
We consider ourselves incredibly lucky that we get to work with over 15,000 young people every single year, we’re constantly surprised, impressed and amazed by the inspirational young changemakers we meet, so the question was posed ‘Why do we have to stop there?’
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From this, our Community Engagement & Development Strategy was created, in partnership itself with young people, which focuses on expanding our community outreach and by truly investing in them and their changemaker journey after engaging in one of our programmes.
This year we are delighted to be launching two exciting new programmes that will help shape and direct our direction as an organisation – our Youth Board & Unloc Ambassador programmes.
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The Unloc Youth Board
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Our Youth Board will be put at the organisation’s centre to consult and guide the Unloc team to focus on what matters to young people within our work. As youth board members, young people will make significant contributions to the organisation, co-produce our session content with our facilitators and have the opportunity to meet other young people with a heart and passion for developing and empowering young people as changemakers.
Our board will also be instrumental in supporting us with making our programmes more innovative and ensuring they are truly supporting the needs of young people.
Hayden Taylor, Unloc’s Managing Director, said:
“It’s essential that we put young people at the heart of what we do at Unloc. As we grow our reach to work with thousands more young people every year, our Youth Board will be able to properly steer the direction we follow and the decisions we make. I’m so excited to see what this group of amazing young people mean for our future as an organisation.”
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Unloc Ambassadors
We are also establishing our Unloc Ambassadors Programme. Our new young Ambassadors will get the chance to attend our programmes and sessions to help inspire other young people and share their experiences, plus attend exclusive events with our partners to showcase the impact they have made through their changemaker journey.
Both our Youth Board and Ambassadors will receive training and support throughout to develop their public speaking, communication, networking skills and more.
The 2 programmes will work in harmony by meeting for a joint development day in early 2024, and then meeting with the rest of the Unloc Community (any Young Person who has completed a programme with us before) in August for our first-ever Unloc Changemaker Conference.
Ben Dowling, Co-Founder of Unloc & Director of People & Resources said:
“As we grow the work we do, it’s only natural that the young people who engage in Unloc programmes should become advocates for the programmes that are empowering and engaging them in what matters most to them. Through our Ambassadors programme, we can make sure that genuine role modelling of young changemakers can be built into all the work we do, whilst also providing yet another leadership opportunity for young people across the Unloc Community.”
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Emiley Hinton, Unloc’s Community & Alumni Engagement Officer said:
“The community strategy is an amazing chance to grow the amount of young people who will get the chance to access experiences to grow their confidence through a variety of opportunities. This is such an exciting strategy and it’s only the beginning, can’t wait to see the impact this strategy and both programmes will have on the young people and Unloc itself!”
These opportunties not only help Unloc as an organisation continue to grow and best meet the needs of young people, they also provide unique opportunities for young people to develop themselves, network and meet like minded other people, and to grow their skills and empowerment to voice their opinions and take action on issues which are important to them. Don’t just take our word for it though, take it from someone who knows!
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Katie Reid
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Katie Reid took part in the Inspiring Change programme last year, and her group ‘See the difference’ created an awareness campaign about bullying and how to get help and support. This was inspired by their own personal experiences, and was a topic that they cared deeply about and wanted to take action on. Through the programme Katie and her team mate Sasha were invited to the House of Commons to speak about their impressive project at the PAC Parliamentary Event, Katie’s said:
“When I look back at who I was just over a year ago I can’t believe i’m the same person. I first got involved with Unloc through the Inspiring Change project in Summer 2022. The Unloc programme absolutely changed my life, it opened so many doors for me inside my own head, showing me that I have a voice, what I can be capable of, that I can speak up, I can speak passionately, I can come up with ideas of my own and actually create change around me in the world.“
“I feel a lot more confident in my future since completing the programme, and I think I’m more likely to be successful now too because I actually know what I am capable of. I’m not just abandoned by Unloc, I keep getting to do more and more with my future!“
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Click here to find out more about our Unloc Ambassadors programme
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