Meet the team: our Youth Voice Advisors
Last month, we announced that The UK Fund is now looking to fund projects that aim to create longer-term, transformational change by helping children and young people to thrive. This is one of our bold commitments as part of our new strategy to tackle some of the big social issues facing UK communities.
Society can benefit by listening more to young people’s views and by recognising their ability to make a positive difference. At The National Lottery Community Fund, we want to make sure young people's voices are embedded in all our work.
That’s why, this International Youth Day, we're delighted to announce that we have recruited a team of Youth Voice Advisors, who will work with our funding teams to help design and shape the decisions that affect young people and their communities. Meet the team in our latest blog.
Meet Tilly
Tilly (she/her), 21, Trebanos (South Wales)
Tilly’s involvement in Youth Social Action started back in 2020, two weeks after the first lockdown when she became a member of The National Lottery Community Fund’s Youth Voice Team Wales advisory panel. Tilly’s mentor recognised her drive to help others and encouraged her to apply.
Tilly says that from her first meeting she was hooked, and it was her first realisation that she can help young people beyond her local community. Throughout her time in the Youth Voice team, Tilly says she’s grown in confidence and gained lots of experience which she’s excited to use to help more young people and have an even bigger impact.
Tilly also played a key role in Mind Our Future, a £10 million grant programme to put young people in the lead so that they can imagine and create a more resilient and mentally healthy future for young people in Wales.
Outside of her activism, Tilly has a keen interest in sport. She loves the gym and tennis and has been involved in the Ospreys since she was fifteen, working with ‘Ospreys in the Community’ to support the community through rugby and other sports.
Tilly is excited to bring new ideas to the table about how we fund and support young people and is looking forward to taking on the challenge and responsibility of driving systems change for youth voice.
“Young people’s voices are important and having our voice heard will open people eyes to understand that it’s our future.”
Meet Rachael
Rachael (she/her) 22, London
Rachael began her youth voice journey in 2014 while volunteering for a funded project known as Headstart Newham. Rachael had the opportunity to sit on a number of youth panels, where she and others advocated for better mental health resources in school settings, youth zones and in the home. Rachael was part of a group of almost 30 young people, all of whom were dedicated to improving the lives of others.
From there, Rachael was successful in being recruited on to the The National Lottery Community Fund’s first Youth Voice Team [Young People in the Lead] in 2020.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the team aimed to improve the quality of Youth voice across the UK through funding and running events to help others to improve youth voice within their organisations. The team held virtual events to celebrate key awareness days, including International Youth Day. In late 2023, Rachael was asked to sit on the Million Hours Fund decision-making panel, where she could provide her insights on what matters to young people and once again be a part of the push for change.
Read about the Young People in the Lead advisory panel
Over the years, Rachael has realised just how much young people have to say and how important it is to invest in them and their futures. “My biggest motivator is that investment in the future generation, being able to listen to their problems and be a part of social change”.
Outside of Youth Social Action activity, Rachael’s a computer scientist with a full-time job as a Tech Consultant. And in her spare time (although it’s hard to believe she finds any spare time) she loves gaming and writing poetry and short stories.
Rachael’s most excited about having the opportunity to play a key role in social change on a national level. “I want to be the voice for young people and be able to get their issues across”.
Meet Katie
Katie (she/her) 22, Newtownabbey (Northern Ireland)
Katie joined the Northern Ireland Youth Voice Team in 2022. Katie brings a breadth of experience having been a part of two National Lottery funded organisations, the Mae Murray Foundation and Newtownabbey Arts and Cultural Network (NACN).
In her role on the Youth Voice panel, Katie found value in speaking to young people about issues and barriers they face.
“As a young disabled woman, I wanted to be a voice for anyone with any disability in my local community.”
Katie saw the Youth Voice Team as a catalyst for change, and an opportunity to create awareness of the need for our communities and organisations to consider accessibility for disabled people.
Now, as a Youth Voice Advisor, Katie is looking forward to building on her experience, working with more charities and learning about the process of assessing a funding application.
In her spare time, Katie loves nothing more than spending time with family and friends. Katie also loves attending concerts – she recently saw Taylor Swift in Dublin and being a Swifty, says it was a night she will never forget!
Meet Tia
Tia (she/her) 20, Cardiff (South Wales)
Tia joined the Youth Voice Team in 2023, but has been actively involved with Youth Social Action for almost six years. Her journey began when she joined the Youth Board of the Wales Millennium Centre, and she has since served on a number of Boards and prides herself on being an activist within her community.
When asked what inspired Tia to get involved in Youth Social Action, she said: “I grew up facing quite a lot of adversity. As a marginalised person, I have lived experience of the negative things society has to offer. My dad is a key inspiration for me, because he’s done a lot of work with young people in the community and has really helped to amplify Black voices – so I think activism has always been embedded into me.”
“I had a bad experience a few years ago and rather than walk away, I decided things had to change. That was my first time realising that I wanted to be a change maker, a positive disruptor.”
On becoming a Youth Voice Advisor, Tia says she’s excited about the opportunity to use the skills she’s gained on a national scale. “The thing I loved about being part of the Youth Voice team (and Mind Our Future) is that young people really had a say. The advisory role will build on that and give me the chance to see funding decisions through from start to finish, which will be incredibly rewarding.”
Outside of work, Tia has many talents – a real wordsmith, she loves word games, writing and is an accomplished spoken word poet. She also loves the theatre having directed and performed in productions and has a keen interest in cooking.
Watch Tia perform “Voice”, her spoken word performance for The National Lottery Community Fund.
For the latest updates and to hear more about the work our Youth Voice Advisors will be undertaking, follow The National Lottery Community Fund on social media.
X: @TNLComFund
Instagram: @TNLCommunityFund
LinkedIn: The National Lottery Community Fund
Facebook: The National Lottery Community Fund