Last Friday (19 April) we staged our annual Youth Voice Awards, where we celebrated the young people who have helped make change in Devon over the last year.
Over 70 young people and adults gathered at the Positive Lights Project in Exeter to show their pride and support for all our award winners from Youth Council, Youth Parliament, SEND Network for Change, SUSU, and Young Devon.
We had over 60 winners overall, all chosen for their contributions to youth voice and playing their part in the huge number of achievements that we’ve had in the last year. These include… protected characteristic, council tax, Total Respect, improving mental health provisions through Youth Voice Saturdays, and working with local organisations to explore how to improve accessibility to venues.
Devon’s Chief Executive, Donna Manson, was on hand to give out the awards, as were Leader of the Council, Councillor John Hart, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Schools, Councillor Andrew Leadbetter and Cabinet Member for Children’s SEND Improvement Services, Councillor Lois Samuel.
Donna said:
“It’s great to see so many young people taking an active role in improving services in Devon. And when people do come forward to work with us to find solutions together, it’s vital that we recognise and celebrate these contributions. We want to make Devon the best place to grow up, and we’ll only do that by listening to, and working with, people who use our services on a day-to-day basis.”
A massive thank you and well done to all our award winners!