Westlea Young Advisors, or YaaY, have only been operating as a group since August - but in that time they have really made an impact on their community and on Westlea Housing Association, who employ the young people as part of their Neighbourhood Involvement Team. Bekki has taken on a leadership role amongst the YAs, a role that is really making good use of her keen organisation skills! We talk to Bekki about being a YA, changing things in her community and the teams plans for the future!

How old are you and how long have you been a Young Advisor

I’m 18 years old and have been a Young Advisor since August

What do you think has been your projects biggest impact on your community?

We have only been Young Advisors since August, but the biggest impact we have had on the targeted area is the development of the sense of community, you can now see the older children ‘looking out for’ the younger ones, helping out at community groups, and generally being far more positive. We are currently working on fundraising idea’s to make an improvement to the park.

What do you like most about your role?

I’m the team coordinator for the Greensquare Young Advisors, and one of my favourite bits about the role is finally having a reason for being so organised. I also like knowing that I’m having a positive impact on the children’s futures, and being able to make them feel valued, by completing the things they want to the best of our ability. For me personally, I like knowing that I’m developing myself daily, whether it’s with communication skills, interview skills, or just in confidence

What things/projects have you been working on lately?

On Thursday 4th august we all woke up bright and early to attend a community clean up day, only for the weather to not be on our side! Despite the weather we had a very good turn out, with a lot of children mucking in to help. We also returned on the 5th to plant herbs and strawberries, we have been told they have been put to very good use.

We have also done lots of consultation work, which has already had a positive impact on the targeted area; we are currently in the progress of having negative and misused equipment removed from the play park.

We’ve experienced lots of training, including interviewing skills… on how to interview others. We really have done it all, Community clean ups, Fun days, children’s parties, right down to health and safety training, life skills, and how to positively engage with other young people.

We have already worked with lots of external companies, and due to our success so far, we are even now expanding out to new areas of Wiltshire, and setting up new schemes with other partnerships.

Whats next for you and your YA team?

Next for Greensquare’s Young Advisors is an expansion to the team to be able to link up with Greensquare’s community’s boards, and finding even more people to work with, whilst continuing with all the work we have done so far ☺