Community Youth Representative

Role Description

 
A Community Youth Representative is defined as an individual over the age of 15 but under the age of 26. These appointments will be for a period of 12 months.

The role of a Youth Representative will be:

  1. To give young people under the age of 26 who live, work or receive education in our community a representative voice on Hope Community Council.

  2. To attend Hope Community Council meetings on a regular basis.

  3. To attend other designated community meetings to discuss issues which have an impact on young people.

  4. To liaise with established local youth groups.

  5. To listen and respect the views of other young people. You must be prepared to listen to what other young people are saying about issues that affect them and feed these views onto the Community Council for consideration and action, if appropriate. Your views are important but you must also be prepared to put across the views of other young people - even if you don’t agree with these views.

  6. You will not be expected to solve problems or issues but you can report them.

  7. To act responsibly when representing Hope Community Council.

  8. The Youth Representatives role will not be party political.

  9. Not be afraid to ask for help, support and advice if needed.

 

Benefits of having a Youth Representative on the Community Council:

  • Opening up a dialogue between young people in the area and elected members / those in authority

  • Begin to develop skills related to financial responsibilities

  • Opportunity for the council to gain an insight into the world of young people

  • Opportunity for young people to become aware of the democratic process, and the way in which words develop into actions

  • Develop new interests – an opportunity for them to offer opinions on developments

  • Giving a clear focus to young people’s needs gives them more responsibility when new projects are being developed – they can see what their contribution has led to

  • Need to ensure that communication techniques that are part of young people’s lives are used e.g. mobile phones, information technology

  • Develop a sense of pride in their locality

  • Opportunity for young people to volunteer in the community

  • Confidence for young people

  • Opportunity to improve facilities

  • Opportunity for young people to develop group working and meeting skills

  • Opportunity for them to contribute and discuss ideas

  • Gives young people self-respect – they feel that their views are listened to