Team London Young Ambassadors aims to build the next generation of volunteers by inspiring and supporting young people to develop community projects on social issues they are passionate about. Since the programme was established in 2013, over 95,000 young people across the capital have improved their school or local area by setting up a wide range of projects which address issues such as food poverty, homelessness, bullying, connecting generations and improving the environment.

The Team London Young Ambassadors programme does a fantastic job of inspiring young people to foster valuable life skills by becoming active citizens in their local area. – Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan

The Mayor, Sadiq Khan, said: “Volunteering is a wonderful and rewarding way to make a positive difference to our great city. The Team London Young Ambassadors programme does a fantastic job of inspiring young people to foster valuable life skills by becoming active citizens in their local area, and bringing communities together in a way that is now more important than ever. I’m delighted their hard work has been recognised this way, and I hope this encourages even more young Londoners to get involved and play a part in making London an even better place to live.”

The awards celebrate excellence and aim to encourage programmes which develop traits like confidence, perseverance and resilience in young people that support academic attainment, are valued by employers and enable them to make a positive contribution to society.  Young Ambassadors is funded thanks to the support of Spirit of 2012 and Unilever. It is delivered in partnership with educational partner WE Day and is free of charge to the 1,800 state schools participating in the programme.

Jen D’Souza, Senior Manager at Team London, said: “Team London Young Ambassadors has been going from strength-to-strength since the programme was created in 2013. This award is testament to the thousands of young people across London who have been volunteering to support their local community. It is truly incredible to see young people develop through their engagement in the programme in areas such as leadership, confidence, team work, public speaking and respect and understanding for their local community.

“The success of our programme would not have been possible without the support of Spirit of 2012, Unilever and the Mayor of London. This Award recognises all 1,800 schools and 400,000 young people engaged in the Team London Young Ambassadors Programme.”

More information:

Team London Young Ambassadors

The Department for Education Character Awards