One of the many panels Youth Councillors sit on as part of the Oldham Youth Council is the Co-operative Oldham Fund which awards money to community groups, voluntary organisations, registered charities and community interest companies based within the area of Oldham Borough Council which have new and innovative project ideas to help improve and benefit the borough of Oldham and its residents.
The panel is made up of a variety of people from all different organisations, backgrounds and age groups offering a wide range of perspectives with two representatives from the Oldham Youth Council – DMYP T.Jay Turner and the chair, Saskia Edwards who engage in debates about the applications received.
“It is fantastic to read about all of the different groups which are planning and carrying out work within our communities and it makes me incredibly proud to be a part of a borough where countless organisations want to do work which will benefit others, giving these organisations the vital money needed to help them execute their plans is so fulfilling as we get to see the positive impacts of our decisions time and time again. Being included in this panel is also a testament to Oldham’s commitment to including young people in decision-making in the borough and allows us to influence the services our friends and families will receive. Not only is sitting on this panel fulfilling and educational as we have developed great reasoning and debating skills it is also interesting and fun to learn about other work within the borough and areas of expertise which we didn’t know about before, of course the large spread of food available at every meeting is also a great positive too! I have thoroughly enjoyed being a panel member on the Co-operative Oldham Fund handling the Action Oldham Fund and I hope we continue to see the positive impacts of its work and it continues to value and include the opinion of young people.”
