Alliance Youth Executive 2011-12 – A new Agenda

A new 13-member Alliance Youth executive was elected at the group’s annual general meeting (AGM) on 2 June 2011. This year’s team is stronger, more professional and more diverse than ever before, and benefits from the substantial knowledge and experience each member brings to the table. Among us are: a local government councillor; practising solicitors and voluntary sector professionals; those with backgrounds in management, business development, information technology and communications; and undergraduate and postgraduate students from both the University of Ulster and Queen’s University, Belfast. Individually we have the expertise necessary to satisfy the demands of each office; together we have the vision to bring about real change to the way Alliance Youth operates and, above all, how it works for you.

We have big plans for the coming year, and, with work underway to set up a new presence at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, we’re going to be bigger than ever. We want to encourage you to set the agenda for what campaigns we get behind, by creating an open channel of communication through which you can tell us what’s really important to you, your friends and families. Perhaps you have concerns over rising tuition fees but aren’t sure how to make your voice heard; maybe you or someone you know has been the victim of racism, and you want to take a stand; or you might regret the level of LGBT representation at your school, university or workplace. These issues, and many others, will have affected or will affect many of you, and we want you to have the confidence to speak out and for Alliance Youth to provide a mechanism for doing so. Irrespective of creed, religion or sexual orientation, our team is here to help make your voice heard.

You’ll be hearing more from us in the coming weeks as we formally introduce the team, and try to get a better picture of how you want us to keep in touch and what you’d like to see Alliance Youth get involved with over the coming year.

Let’s make this the year Alliance Youth starts to lead real change for all young people across all of Northern Ireland.