Agenda item

Darcey Howell - Outgoing Youth Mayor

To receive an overview from Darcey Howell, outgoing Youth Mayor on her democracy journey.

 

Minutes:

 

 

A warm welcome was extended to Darcey Howell, outgoing Youth Mayor of Blaenau Gwent.  

 

Darcey commenced that stating that it was a huge privilege to be able to speak to Council about what she had achieved being Youth Mayor and to highlight some of the amazing opportunities that had been presented to her. 

 

Darcey explained that she had joined the Youth Forum back in 2018 as a little year 7.  By 2019 she had managed to pluck up the courage and stand for Deputy Youth Mayor.  Little did she know at the time what she was in for and what she would get up to in the next few years.  When elected, Darcey had decided that her priority would be improving mental health through sport and physical activity.  She had chosen this priority because it fitted nicely into the priority of the previous Youth Mayor, Charlotte and the overall Forum priority of mental health and also because she was a very sporty and active person and an active participant in her swimming club (also Vice-Captain) and netball club.  However, Darcey did recognised that not all young people had the opportunity to do this and she had tried to raise awareness that physical activity was not just about being part of a club or gym, it took many forms.

 

Darcey attended a local community gym with her mother and recognised that some of the equipment would not be suitable for the younger age group. She worked with the owner of the gym to submit a Cash4U funding application for sporting equipment so that young people could take part in a Youth Academy Programme which involved volunteering. The funding bid was successful and all the equipment was purchased on behalf of the gym.  Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic hit and the project did not go according to plan and the Youth Academy Programme was put on hold. In September 2021 Darcey together with members of the Youth Forum attended the gym to take part in a session using the new equipment that was purchased as part of the bid and was pleased to report the first parts of this programme had now started with 16 young people signed up and 20 youth sessions having been delivered to date. Darcey had also recently submitted another funding bid for the swimming club she trained at – this would provide training for the members, enable them to volunteer as coaches and would also provide new equipment such as medicine balls and diving blocks. 

 

Being part of the Youth Forum had also provided Darcey with a platform to be involved in many opportunities, one being the first Climate Change Assembly in Wales. In January 2021 as Youth Mayor, she along with another member of the Youth Forum, Mara had been asked to be part of the planning group for the Climate Change Assembly. This involved attending regular meetings, working with different partners across the council, outside agencies and the community of Blaenau Gwent. The Climate Change Assembly had taken place over two weekends in March 2021. This saw members of the community come together to look at tackling Climate Change as whole but, more importantly focussing on what could be done in Blaenau Gwent towards this and voting on the key issues to take forward. Darcey supported the running of the sessions by offering IT support, managing the lobby for Zoom as well as participating alongside her peers as a speaker at the event. The forum representatives highlighted simple changes that people could make to everyday lives towards tackling Climate Change.

 

This experience had allowed Darcey to meet with many different people, work on something she felt very passionate about, gain new skills and took her out of her comfort zone but she was pleased to announce that she would continue to be part of this work going forward.

 

However, Darcey’s journey as Youth Mayor didn’t stop there. Being part of the Youth Forum had enabled her to be a part of:

 

-      Consultations around issues such as mental health, policing, wellbeing, democracy and making sure that children and young people’s voices were heard. 

-      Campaigns such as International Women’s Day, Show Racism the Red Card and awareness around the Census.

-      Regional Youth Forum, chairing the Police Commissioner’s Question Time event and being part of the COVID recovery planning for young people.

-      Involvement in an interview panel for the youth service and she had helped to develop the Body Image Campaign alongside the Youth Forum, which had won the best scientific and educational film in the first International Film Festival of Wales

 

Darcey concluded by thanking Members for their support and for listening to her democracy journey to date.

 

The Chair said despite the Covid pandemic, Darcey had achieved a tremendous amount during her year in office.  Darcey’s energy and commitment was to be applauded and the Chair expressed her best wishes to Darcey for the future.

 

Members echoed these comments and pointed out that mental health and wellbeing for young people was tremendously important especially during the pandemic and Darcey was congratulated on taking this forward as her priority for the year and commended on her truly inspirational journey to date.  Members expressed their best wishes to Darcey for her future endeavours.

 

Another Member commenced by stating that he was not being disrespectful to the Chair of the Council who was doing an excellent job but said he really appreciated the role of Mayor of Blaenau Gwent, which should never have been disregarded. The role of Mayor of Blaenau Gwent was an integral part of running the County Borough and said he hoped that this role would be reinstated at some point in the future in order to continue to carry out a role in a similar vein to Darcey, who he commended for the work she had undertaken during her time as Youth Mayor.