The Advocacy Academy

Who we are

The Advocacy Academy are youth organisers working to create a more fair, just, and equal society, by building the collective power of young people to bring about change. We train young people with lived experience of injustice to achieve long-term systemic change for themselves and the communities they live in. We combine formal instruction in social and economic systems, practical training in community organising, with the heart and soul of radical youth work. We equip young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to become active agents for change in the community.

As pressures mount and socioeconomic conditions worsen, it's far too easy to blame a new generation for a presumed lack of interest in civic life, or to dismiss their anger as unreasonable.  As citizens, we must recognise that it is we and traditional institutions that have failed to modernise and seek the engagement of young people.

Government data (DCMS) from 2020/21 found that only 6% of 16-24 year olds are engaged in any civic or political activism. In the decade preceding this survey (2009-2019) UK youth services were cut by over £400m resulting in the closure of more than 760 youth centres since 2012. Furthermore, the 2010 coalition government’s review of the national curriculum removed ‘skills and practice’ from citizenship education in schools, and defunded the training of teachers in the subject. In a 2018 review by the House of Lords, it was declared that citizenship education in England had been allowed to “degrade to a parlous state”. 

Despite this dearth of investment, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that young people are more engaged in social issues, and, more importantly, are ready to act and make choices around their values. Young people simply lack the infrastructure and support to do so. We have been shown time and time again that the arc of history is bent towards justice through the passion, integrity and hopes of young people. Young changemakers have been the catalyst of almost every major social, political and economic change. 

If we want the next generation to fix, not just inherit the turmoil left for them, we need to invest in their civic participation. And then, frankly, we need to get out of their way.