Bethia is Programme Leader for Youth Transitions, and leads on all work related to young people and the youth sector.

Bethia worked on The Youth of Today, a two-year partnership of seven leading youth organisations aiming to increase the quality, quantity and diversity of opportunities for young people as leaders of change in their communities. Young people led the programme, making decisions about grants and shaping the research. The Youth of Today £1 million fund has reached over 1,500 young people, through investment in 37 youth sector organisations.  Bethia was also Project Manager for the Apprenticeship Pathfinder strand of the Local Wellbeing Project at the Young Foundation.

Bethia is now leading the Young Foundation's work on Catalyst, a consortium of four organisations working with the Department for Education's (DfE) as the strategic partner for young people, as part of the Department's wider transition programme for the sector. Catalyst will work to deliver three key objectives over a two year period. It will strengthen the youth sector market, equip the sector to work in partnership with Government and coordinate a skills development strategy for the youth sector's workforce. Bethia is also leading work around Informing Investment in Youthwork, a partnership project with the National Youth Agency, supported by the Local Government Association.

Bethia has also worked for The National Youth Agency, as Policy Manager, and for NIACE, leading their research and development work around young adult learners aged 16-25. Bethia has particular interests in informal and non-formal learning, youth-led research, concepts of employability, and literacy, language and numeracy learning.

Bethia has also worked as a teacher and trainer, in Further and Higher Education and within the voluntary and community sector. Bethia is the author of a range of reports and publications, including Success factors in informal learning: young adults' experiences of literacy and numeracy (NRDC, 2005) and Working with young adults (NIACE/NRDC, 2008).

Bethia is a 2012 Fellow on the Clore Social Leadership Programme and on the Board of Directors of Speakeasy, a theatre in education company based in Leicester.

Contact:

bethia.mcneil@youngfoundation.org or call 020 8980 6263