Violence Reduction Unit: Young People's Action Group

The Young People’s Action Group (YPAG) works alongside London’s VRU to ensure the voice, opinions and ideas of young people influence policy and funding decisions.

The YPAG is a group of young people from across London with ‘lived experience of violence’ or who had campaigned on youth issues. The aim of the YPAG is to amplify the voices of young Londoners whilst supporting them to lead change.

The YPAG’s work is structured around themes including parenting, policing, communication, school and youth work. The group, aged from 15-21, get involved with activities, including panel discussions, consultations, service reviews, and have the freedom to propose and lead on projects themselves.

The Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)'s approach is rooted in prevention and early intervention and is a champion and a voice for young people and communities across London.

Working with the Skills Builder Partnership, the development of eight essential skills will be woven through all the YPAG's activities. Using the Essential Skills Academy, explicit focus will be given to the core skills being developed through events, with the opportunity to reflect on how these skills were developed and how this will be taken forward.

All members of the YPAG will capture their development reflections through the Benchmark self-assessment tool, allowing for impact measurement within the training and activities and for this progress to be shared with the Youth Participation team.

Use of the Launchpad site will also allow the YPAG to track their own progression and articulate their development.