Youth Assembly in Nottingham: How Young People Are Shaping Community and Civic Engagement
Youth Assembly in Nottingham: How Young People Are Shaping Community and Civic Engagement
Namit S, Volunteer
The Youth Assembly is an ongoing youth participation programme. The pilot was delivered in partnership with Nottingham College. It supports young people to explore social issues, understand democratic decision-making, and define what community means to them. As a volunteer, I observed how this model moves beyond consultation and into real civic engagement. Students are not asked for opinions in isolation. They are asked to analyse issues, debate priorities, and make collective decisions.
What Is the Youth Assembly?
The Youth Assembly is a facilitated programme that brings together students to discuss issues affecting young people in the UK and to explore how decisions are made at a local level.
It combines youth-led discussion with practical civic education, including a city council budget simulation that mirrors real local government decision-making.
Key Issues Discussed by Young People
The Youth Assembly focuses on topics that young people are already encountering in their daily lives, both online and offline. These include:
• Misogyny and gender-based harm
• Mental health and access to support
• Bullying and peer abuse
• Migration, identity, and belonging
• Voting in the UK and democratic participation
• Incel culture and the manosphere
Discussions are grounded in lived experience and guided by trained facilitators. Students are encouraged to question harmful narratives, challenge assumptions, and listen to different perspectives.
A core focus of the Youth Assembly is community. Students are asked to reflect on:
• What community means to them
• Who feels included or excluded
• How services, funding, and policy shape everyday experiences
These conversations help young people connect personal experiences to wider social structures, particularly around inequality, safety, and access to support.
Learning Democracy Through a City Council Simulation
One of the most effective elements of the Youth Assembly is the city council budget simulation.
Students work in groups to act as a local authority with a fixed budget. They must debate priorities, negotiate with others, and vote on how funding should be allocated across the city.
Funding decisions typically include:
• Mental health services
• Job centres and employment support
• Green spaces
• Youth services
• Community safety
The exercise highlights how political decisions involve trade-offs and compromise. It also builds understanding of how local councils operate and why not all needs can be met at once. From a volunteer perspective, this is where engagement deepens. Students quickly grasp the responsibility involved in decision-making and begin to link values with outcomes.
Addressing Misogyny and Online Harm
The Youth Assembly discussions also address misogyny, incel culture, and the manosphere, recognising the growing influence of online spaces on young people’s attitudes and behaviour.
Rather than avoiding these topics, the programme creates a structured space to analyse them critically. Students discuss how harmful ideas spread online, how they impact real-world relationships, and how they can be challenged through education, accountability, and community responsibility.
Why Youth Assemblies Matter
The Youth Assembly offers an alternative model that treats young people as active participants in civic life. By combining discussion, debate, and decision-making, the programme helps young people:
• Build confidence in expressing views
• Understand democratic processes
• Develop leadership and teamwork skills
• Engage with complex social issues responsibly
The Youth Assembly in Nottingham demonstrates how education providers, local authorities, and community organisations can work together to support informed, engaged young citizens.
It shows that young people are not disengaged from politics or community life. They are often excluded from spaces where decisions are made. This programme brings them into those spaces.
: Project Youth Assembly
The Youth Assembly project demonstrates how education providers, local authorities, and community organisations can work together to support informed, engaged young citizens.
It shows that young people are not disengaged from politics or community life. They are often excluded from spaces where decisions are made. This programme brings them into those spaces.