The Youth Board and Youth Leaders

Objective: Engage young people in leading community events, KBSK projects and mentoring their peers through various activities.

In our Youth Leader/Youth Teacher program, our primary aim is to provide exceptional mentorship and cultivate a safe environment where young individuals can thrive as role models and community leaders. We lead activities with the intention of offering paid opportunities and employment.

Throughout the leadership program, participants receive support from our team and personalised guidance from KBSK's Managing Director. They follow a tailored program designed to support them on their journey as leaders and teachers. Our objective is to help our young people achieve their aspirations, tailoring the program to meet their individual needs and goals. The Youth Leader program offers opportunities to assist sessions, lead activities, and collaborate in event planning.

Currently, our youth leaders, aged between 13 and 17, exclusively oversee our outreach programs on council estates. From planning sessions to their delivery, replicating KBSKs fist project back in 2012 across multiple estates, ensuring that the transformative power of the arts reaches as many young lives as possible, with the aim to inspire and recruit the next generation of KBSK youth leaders.

Our program has resulted into numerous success stories, showcasing how KBSK nurtures the upcoming generation of community leaders. One example is Shanice Cook, who began engaging in our dance sessions at the age of ten in 2012. Today, at 21, Shanice is employed by our organisation and leads our dance programs.

We have had youth leaders commissioned by external organisations for choreography and community leadership positions. Additionally, KBSK alumni who have pursued further education are provided paid opportunities to return to the organisation to teach and lead activities during holidays.

At KBSK, we deeply believe in fostering the growth of future leaders, a core principle cemented in our ethos. Embracing grassroots approaches and prioritising youth leadership are fundamental to KBSKs mission. We have seen firsthand the positive impact our youth leaders bring to our community.

YOUTH BOARD

Objective: Empower a cohort of young people to steer the organisation by collecting feedback, co-creating projects, and actively participating in board meetings and project planning discussions.

The Youth Board represents a fresh initiative designed to empower our young people in actively shaping the direction of KBSK. Board members advocate for the inclusion of all young people engaging in KBSK activities, generating projects based on collected feedback and evaluating ongoing projects.

We are committed to fostering opportunities for our young people to engage in project development, offering them a platform to contribute to the planning and evaluation of KBSK programs. Our diverse Youth Board is made up of 16 young people aged between 11 and 19, meeting monthly to discuss ongoing projects, assess current initiatives, and to brainstorm new ideas for future projects.

The insights and the aspirations of our Youth Board are effectively communicated to our Board of Directors during board meetings, enriching our strategic planning processes.

In line with our mission and values, our Youth Board leads the the evaluation of our projects. They gather feedback from KBSK members and present a report to the Board of Directors, ensuring that our evaluation processes are grounded in the voices of our young people and holding our directors accountable in decision making.

Our evaluation meetings is a collaboration, bringing together our volunteers, KBSK directors, teachers, and Youth Board members in person. Through this collaborative effort, we aim to assess project effectiveness, we welcome insights on successful aspects, and identify areas for improvement. The input of our young people remains central to this process, reflecting our commitment to actively listen and implement actions based on their feedback.