On October 22nd-24th volunteers came together for Central Bedfordshire’s three-day Annual Youth Voice Conference, where the Youth Parliament, Youth Central, Children and Young People’s Board and the Children in Care Council planned some of their key activity for 2019. Guest speakers included Children’s Services Director Sue Harrison, Cllr Steve Dixon, Bedfordshire Police, Public
Health and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Topics covered included knife crime, mental health, self-esteem, LGBTQ+, child sexual exploitation (CSE), county lines and gangs.
It was a really good few days of learning, evaluating, and planning. As well as having a range of guest speakers to help develop some of our campaigns and consult about changes with us, it was a great opportunity to look back at the achievements of Youth Voice in 2018 and begin planning how we can move some of them forward in 2019. Some of the key highlights to look out for in 2019 are:
- The launch of the anti-knife crime campaign
- The development of the #AllDifferentAllEqual Campaign
- The Youth Voice Manifesto
- And more of our pop-up events around Central Bedfordshire
Sue Harrison, the Director of Children's Services at Central Bedfordshire Council said:
“It was a pleasure and privilege to meet with our young
people, who are so committed to working with us to shape their futures in Central Bedfordshire Council. The questions they asked were not easy ones, as they held me to account in a friendly professional group discussion. I was impressed by everyone’s confident contributions, and the respect they showed to each other during the discussion when views differed. I look forwards to the next time.”