Youth Summit ensures young people get their voices heard

The voices of young people across England and Wales on issues such as youth violence and racism were heard at this week’s Premier League Youth Summit.

More than 700 youngsters from Premier League Kicks and Premier League Inspires programmes across England and Wales united on Wednesday to engage in conversations on these issues, as well as amplify the positive activity and social action they've been doing in their communities. 

They represented almost 40 professional football club community organisations at the virtual one-day event, which was hosted by the presenter Elz at the League’s headquarters.

The two-hour event was live-streamed to the participants gathered together within their respective club community organisations, from where they shared their ideas and thoughts.

The young people had been asked by their clubs to talk about at least one of three themes: their experience on the programmes; community safety and youth violence; No Room For Racism.

They found creative ways to share their voices and discuss those topics, for example through vlogging, photography or music, and they put their talents on display during the event.

They also took part in live challenges related to Premier League values, such as taking a photo that reflected "ambition" - working hard and never giving up on your goals - or how to be "connected", such as working as a team to move a football around their group without touching the floor.

The Youth Summit is just the start of the work that the Premier League and the Premier League Charitable Fund aim to do to engage more youth voice in their work and programmes.