At the end of June, EY Foundation had their first ever youth voice forum which was hosted by the lovely Aleena and Deborah.

Young people got the chance to hear from alumni and EY Foundation volunteers about what they can do to help achieve their career and future aspirations. Also, young people were able to express issues that matter to them the most e.g., social mobility.

EY Foundation is a charity set up to help navigate and empower young people from low-income backgrounds to achieve their career and future goals through a series of programmes aimed at giving them the tools and support that they need.

EY Foundation has managed to help countless young people with their career goals and aspirations. Some are going to university, and some are going straight into a job or an apprenticeship and recently someone has been able to land their dream job.

EY Foundation has helped me with figuring out what I want to do when I graduate and getting valuable experience in audit.

We got to hear from the fantastic panellists about their own experiences and aspirations for the future:

• Olivia voiced the importance of having programmes that focused on social mobility and creating more opportunities for young people.
• Ramal mentioned how happy he was when he saw people who represented him in the workplace and how companies can benefit from having programmes and initiatives aimed at social mobility.
• Humerah gave advice to young people about getting into the world of work and how companies can communicate opportunities to people from care backgrounds.

We also had the pleasure of hearing from Jonas and Babz. Jonas “who is an entrepreneur, speaker and educator” spoke about how he wanted to prove his doubters wrong and build a better life for himself and his community. His advice for young people was to ask for help when you need it, work smart and get the job done.

Babz, who is Founder and CEO of Freshbr C.I.C., talked about how he has turned a tragedy into a passion. His advice to young people is to start now and find a mentor.

Whilst it would be nice for future events to be held virtually and in person, rather than just online, all in all, it was a great and impactful event with hopes of more to come. My hope is for more young people to be involved in future youth forums.

Did you miss our Youth Voice Forum? Watch on-demand: https://bit.ly/3tsfLED