What are Young VIPs?
‘Young Volunteers in Important Positions’ (Young VIPs) is an umbrella term for people aged 35 or under who volunteer in important roles with significant responsibilities, including Trustees, Governors and Magistrates. Young people are under-represented in all of these roles.
Young people’s perspectives, experience, and voice are missing in most of these roles which can make big decisions that affect young peoples lives. These roles are great opportunities for younger people to learn skills and gain experiences that wouldn’t usually be available at that age. There aren’t many other opportunities for you to sit on an organisation’s board or to have a title like ‘Justice of the Peace’!
Magistrates
Magistrates will hear cases in Magistrates’ Court (criminal and/or family court) and decide an outcome together with two other Magistrates with advice on the law and the right procedures from a legal advisor.
Only 5% of magistrates are under 40*. These figures don’t reflect the age of people going through Magistrates court. Magistrates had to retire at 70, but this has now been increased to 75 due to shortages of new young people taking on this role.
Trustees
Trustees make up the Board of a Charity and they are legally responsible for its governance. In larger charities they might hire a CEO to manage the everyday operations of a charity on their behalf.
Less than 3% of charity trustees are under 30* but a large proportion of the people lots of charities support are likely to be under 35.
Governors
Governors are similar to Trustees but they are legally responsible for the governance of Schools, Colleges, Nurseries, etc.
Only 10% of governors are younger than 40, and only 1% are under 30*. This doesn’t reflect the ages of students or lots of parents.
All these roles are purely voluntary and unpaid.
Meet Young VIPs in York:
Trustees
Magistrates
Where did Young VIPs come from?
Ashley Mason was the Sheriff of York for the civic years 2020 to 2021 and as a young Councillor, Governor and Magistrate himself, wanted to promote the importance of young people being represented in civic leadership. Ashley reached out to York Volunteers Centre at York CVS as a promoter of these voluntary roles and they then worked in collaboration with young volunteers from the University of York who project managed the production of the above videos for young Trustees and Magistrates.
Resources
We’re working on building a library of resources to support you. In future they’ll appear below, but in the meantime please don’t hesitate to get in contact with any queries you might have.
Contact us:
Contact the York Volunteers Team on:
Telephone: 01904 621133
Email: volunteering@yorkcvs.org.uk
