Team London Young Ambassadors

This project is now complete

Inspiring young people across London boroughs to act on local issues and get volunteering in their schools and in their communities.

£450,000

Project spend

July 2014 – July 2016

Project duration

Visit Team London Young Ambassadors website

For further information

Team London Young Ambassadors (TLYA) is the Mayor of London’s volunteer programme for schools. Spirit of 2012 part funded the Greater London Authority to roll out of the programme following its pilot year in 2013-14, allowing it to be offered to all London schools. Spirit funding accounted for one third of the funding for the project, with Unilever awarding grants of £362,000 and the Greater London Authority providing its own match of £500,000.

At the time of our funding, TLYA was delivered through a mix of assemblies, introducing young people to volunteering and active citizenship, and more detailed workshops.

By the end of our funding period, 80% of schools in London were taking part.

Since Spirit of 2012 funding has ended, TLYA has remained an integral part of London’s volunteering and social action offer for young people. It has been matched funded as part of the National Lottery’s #iwill Fund, and is delivered by Volunteering Matters.

Developed by the Greater London Authority (GLA) in partnership with WE, the two year (2014-16) project inspired young people in non-fee-paying schools across all London boroughs to act on local issues and get volunteering – both in their schools and in their communities. Issues that young people addressed included homelessness, bullying, food poverty, food waste and community building.

The project supported social action in London schools by offering individual school assemblies, workshops and follow-up activity, together with large-scale youth summits and the opportunity for young people to attend the annual flagship We Day event. Schools had access to interactive handbooks introducing students to social action, and took part in an awards scheme recognising the volunteering efforts of young people. Schools were also supported by Borough Ambassadors – adult volunteers recruited and trained by Team London – who helped students and teachers identify volunteering projects in the local area.

Project aims

Inspire young people into volunteering and social action

Impact

990 schools took part in the programme – 688 had interactive assemblies, and 277 had assemblies and workshops . This reached 404,141 children and young people, of which 107,985 were given a chance to volunteer.

The project evaluation explored the impact of the workshops on young people’s skills, their community engagement, and school culture. Some of the findings include:

68% of young people are more likely to plan for their future career or higher education
88% of young people have developed stronger communication skills
87% of young people demonstrate more consideration of local and global issues in their everyday life choices, including kindness, recycling and energy conservation
86% of young people feel a greater connection to their local community
70% of teachers feel that the Young Ambassadors programme has encouraged previously disengaged students to become more involved
81% of teachers were more likely to integrate content about the local community into regular classroom activities