What is the Young Active Citizen Award

A special award for young people going the “extra mile” to help others.  The Young Active Citizen Award was launched to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of young people, to reward their effort and hard work, and to celebrate people doing extraordinary things.

 

Each year the award will be themed reflecting what is happening in the West Midlands.

This year, we aim to celebrate the spirit of the Commonwealth. Its aim is to bring people together from countries far and wide, or communities from across the city and region. We embrace the Commonwealth values of humanity, equality and diversity in everything we do, our awards will celebrate young people who have shown extraordinary impact on the community in which they live and impacting on the cultural life of the region.

 

Do you have a young person who you know is making a difference in their community?

A special award for young people going the “extra mile” to help others.  The Young Active Citizen Award was launched to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of young people, to reward their effort and hard work, and to celebrate people doing extraordinary things.

 

Each year the award will be themed reflecting what is happening in the West Midlands.

This year, we aim to celebrate the spirit of the Commonwealth. Its aim is to bring people together from countries far and wide, or communities from across the city and region. We embrace the Commonwealth values of humanity, equality and diversity in everything we do, our awards will celebrate young people who have shown extraordinary impact on the community in which they live and impacting on the cultural life of the region.

 

Do you have a young person who you know is making a difference in their community?

A special award for young people going the “extra mile” to help others.  The Young Active Citizen Award was launched to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of young people, to reward their effort and hard work, and to celebrate people doing extraordinary things.

 

Each year the award will be themed reflecting what is happening in the West Midlands.

This year, we aim to celebrate the spirit of the Commonwealth. Its aim is to bring people together from countries far and wide, or communities from across the city and region. We embrace the Commonwealth values of humanity, equality and diversity in everything we do, our awards will celebrate young people who have shown extraordinary impact on the community in which they live and impacting on the cultural life of the region.

 

Do you have a young person who you know is making a difference in their community?

Download Nomination Form

We want you to capture the key points below so consider

Used their skills and talents to build and strengthen local communities

Assisted in developing legacy through the creation of improved diversity, understanding and reconciliation via community activity

Volunteered and achieved measurable impact on a specific community project 

Used their skills and talents to help other people to access opportunities in their community

Overcome personal barriers in order to participate in cultural opportunities in their community (educational institution or wider community)

Helped other people overcome barriers and participate in community opportunities 

Been innovative in developing or working on a community project

Our winners in 2022 were:

Leo Concannon | 7 years old

Winner of up to 11 age group

Leo was diagnosed with Perthes Disease, a rare childhood condition, in September 2022, which resulted in him having to give up the sports he enjoyed (golf and football), although he is allowed to swim and has moved up 3 swimming groups since September 2022.

 

In October he decided it would be a god idea to give himself something positive to focus on and he took part in a ‘Silly Sock Day’ organised by the charity ‘Steps, a leading charity working for all those whose lives are affected by childhood lower limb conditions. He asked his friends and family to sponsor him to wear his silliest socks for the day and was delighted when many people joined him in wearing their silliest socks too. He raised £1435! Raising money this way gave him the chance to feel that something good had come out of his situation and raised awareness of the condition to other people.

Inshira is part of her school’s Change Your Mind programme, a student leadership programme whereby pupils plan and deliver workshops on aspects of health, diversity and inclusion to deliver to primary school pupils in the local area, and also complete other related tasks in their own school.

Her role within the programme is ‘sub-team leader’ for our Digital Detoxing sub-team, meaning that she has to line-manage five other Year 12 pupils, ensuring that they complete their roles within the programme to the best of their ability and monitor their activities. So far, she has delivered four workshops herself. She has also gone out of her way to complete other additional tasks as part of the programme. For example, she has attended a pupil advisory meeting, lending her voice to improve the PSHE provision at her school, and created a bespoke form time session about the dangers of social media, which she delivered to a Year 8 class as part of her school’s annual Mental Health Week programme of events. She has contributed to the promotion of the Change Your Mind programme on a national scale, writing an excellent blog post for the CYM.

 

Inshira Khan

Inshira Khan | 17 years old

Joint winner of 12-18 age group

Inshira Khan

Inshira Khan | 17 years old

Joint winner of 12-18 age group

Inshira is part of her school’s Change Your Mind programme, a student leadership programme whereby pupils plan and deliver workshops on aspects of health, diversity and inclusion to deliver to primary school pupils in the local area, and also complete other related tasks in their own school.

Her role within the programme is ‘sub-team leader’ for our Digital Detoxing sub-team, meaning that she has to line-manage five other Year 12 pupils, ensuring that they complete their roles within the programme to the best of their ability and monitor their activities. So far, she has delivered four workshops herself. She has also gone out of her way to complete other additional tasks as part of the programme. For example, she has attended a pupil advisory meeting, lending her voice to improve the PSHE provision at her school, and created a bespoke form time session about the dangers of social media, which she delivered to a Year 8 class as part of her school’s annual Mental Health Week programme of events. She has contributed to the promotion of the Change Your Mind programme on a national scale, writing an excellent blog post for the CYM.

 

Arguably, her finest achievement on this programme has been the one-to-one peer mentoring she has been doing with a Year 8 pupil who had been accumulating a lot of Behaviour Points from members of staff, she has been meeting this boy once a week in her lunch break and completing a detailed report for his form tutor and head of year each time, which outlines what they discussed, what advice she has given, and what targets they have set for the following week. The boy has shown a drastic reduction in his Behaviour Points, and his form tutor has been astounded by this turnaround.

If this were not all impressive enough, Inshira is a young carer, who regularly juggles not only this, but her school work too of course, with looking after her mother. She is an incredibly hard-working and reliable young woman, and I admire her greatly.
Millie Clarke

Millie Clarke | 24 years old

Winner of 18-25 age group

Millie was nominated for this award because of how she has used personal experiences to shape her career ambitions as well as give back to others and the wider community, going out on patrol with Streetwatch, holding a cadet leader role with West Midlands Police Cadets based at the College. This sees Millie train and mentor up 10-15 young people aged 13-18 at a time. She has carried out exercise drills with her cadets, taught them the phonetic alphabet and taken her charges on a tour of a local police station in order to boost their interpersonal skills and confidence. As a community ambassador, Millie was chosen to represent the cadets during a LGBTQ+ Birmingham Pride event.

Millie works part-time as a delivery driver, often bringing supplies to elderly individuals in supported living residences. She values her conversations with these people when unpacking their goods, not just because of the outgoing person she is, but also as a way of appreciating the life experiences and needs of people she wouldn’t regularly speak with.

As a police officer in the making, these activities spur Millie towards achieving her goal of giving others the chance, particularly a second chance to make the most of what the world can offer.

From her early teens, Millie was receiving counselling for mental health difficulties resulting from family circumstances. On receiving swift, appropriate care and attention, she realised she had a second chance to make something of herself and be there to do the same for others.

Millie has studied Level 3 (A Level equivalent), Level 4 and 5 protective services qualifications with us and is currently completing a full honours degree in police intelligence through Wolverhampton University. She has applied to join the police force, with a view to moving into the armed police.

Download Nomination Form