The Young Foundation has welcomed the announcement by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears of plans to expand young mayor schemes across the country. The plan will mean £2 million of funding to help support at least 20 new young mayors around the country.

Elected young mayors represent young people aged between 11 and 18 years old, acting as a voice to influence decisions made by their council on issues from housing to education, recycling, youth services and community safety. For example, in Newham the Young Mayor, Joshua Adejokun, has consulted young people in Newham and championed the importance of involving young people in the press and at events. He has recently written in a special edition of the SocietyGuardian about the importance of inspiring young people to get involved in changing their society on a very local level, held events with young people in Newham about community safety; and attended events with senior civil servants.

Turnout in some young mayor elections has been astonishing compared to that in many other elections (e.g. local authority) - at 59% in North Tyneside, 49% in Lewisham and 43% in Newham.

Rushanara Ali, Associate Director of the Young Foundation, said:
‘Young mayors' have proved themselves as effective voices for young people, making sure that the views of young people are heard. Having a young mayor means that young people in that area know they have a champion who can stand up for them and who they have a part in choosing. Expanding this innovation so that more young people across the country are represented by a young mayor is a welcome development.'

The Young Foundation is a centre for social innovation. Its main goal is to speed up society's ability to respond to changing needs through innovating and replicating new methods and models. A number of its activities promote youth leadership, including the UpRising leadership programme and Learning Launchpad - an early stage social fund developing promising ideas into new organisations that enable young people to make a successful transition to adulthood.

More information
• Further details of the announcement by Hazel Blears are available here: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1172711