August 2020 blog from Chair of Youth Task Force

Welcome to my first ever blog as Chair of Greater Manchester’s Youth Task Force.

I’m really excited to be able to share with you how far we have come in such a short time, with some really positive steps in the right direction being made.

Just to recap… the Task Force was created in response to COVID-19 and the impact that the pandemic is having on young people.

In June I was delighted to take on the role of Chair of the Task Force to develop a Guarantee for young people across the city-region, which will ultimately help pave the way to the best possible future for many young people.

The Young Person’s Guarantee will be built around four key areas: keeping connected, staying well, preparing for transition back into work and/or education, and reducing economic inequalities.

The short video below explains more about the key aims of the Guarantee.

Consultation

We have engaged with and listened to hundreds of people to seek their views on the Young Person’s Guarantee.

This has involved us hosting several virtual engagement activities with young people, educators, local businesses and digital health partners, and we are continuing to seek the views of local businesses and from the people of Greater Manchester about health and wellbeing - with surveys running until August 25. You can find details of these and our initial findings on our web page.

Youth Advisory Group

To help us shape the Guarantee we called out for people aged between 11 and 30 to join our Youth Advisory Group. I’m now thrilled to welcome on board 24 young people from across Greater Manchester who I’m sure are all very proud to be part of such an important piece of work and local movement.

I met virtually with the new group on August 7 - when we talked about how we would work together over the coming months to create the Guarantee and really help make a difference to the future landscape for our local young people.

Two members of the group already represent other local young people and hold positions on Greater Manchester’s Youth Combined Authority.

Emma Greenwood, from Bury Youth Council, and Bethan Heatley, of the Proud Trust, are excited to grasp this unique opportunity with both hands. 

So, what next?

The Task Force is being formed at the moment and will include representatives from across Greater Manchester to drive forward each key area of the Guarantee. Be sure to keep a look out for updates on this on GMCA’s website.

Thank you for reading my post, and please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments: taskforce@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.

Diane Modahl
Chair of Greater Manchester’s Youth Task Force