Home > Communicate > News

Scouts Step Up and make a difference

by Paul Amass News

Scouts Step Up and make a difference

The Scout Association pledges support for new social impact campaign. The Step Up To Serve initiative, which launches today and is championed by HRH Prince Charles, aims to double the number of young people taking part in social action by 2020.

To mark the launch, leaders across business, education, faith, politics, public services and youth organisations will make pledges to take action to enable and empower more young people to volunteer.

Rising to the challenge, The Scout Association has announced its own pledges as part of the commitment to empower more young people to take part in social action, whether that be campaigning, fundraising, mentoring, volunteering or providing aid in their communities by using the skills and opportunities provided in their Scouting programme. However, with membership waiting lists for The Scout Association at their largest ever, part of The Scout Association’s pledge will be to encourage adult volunteering, thereby providing enough opportunities for young people to take part in social action in their communities through Scouting.

Our pledge:

  • I will step up and help all young people to have every opportunity to serve others by... supporting an extra 62,000 young people to become involved in Scouting, empowering half a million young people to take social action by 2020.
  • I will step up and help all young people to have every opportunity to serve others by... creating a new strategic objective for The Scout Association to increase positive impact we have in our communities.
  • I will step up and help all young people to have every opportunity to serve others by... recruiting an additional 14,000 adult volunteers by 2020, allowing half a million young people to take social action through Scouting. 

Matt Hyde, CEO of The Scout Association, and two Scouts, Ben and Kayleigh, joined the programme’s Royal Patron, HRH Prince Charles, and the leaders of the three major political parties at Buckingham Palace today for the launch of the initiative.

Ben, 11, and Kayleigh, 18, have already been leading the way on youth social action and are involved in both local community and worldwide projects.

Ben, a Scout from the isle of Dogs, said: ‘Volunteering is really important and can make a big difference to communities. When the typhoon struck the Philippines last week, where much of my family live, my Scouts Troop collected food, clothing and medicine, and together we raised over £2,000 in donations for the Typhoon victims who are very much in need. It felt great to be able to do that.’

Kayleigh adds: ‘I would encourage all young people to get involved in volunteering and to make their own journey. It is important to remember that there is nothing stopping us from making change.’

At the forefront

Scouts have been at the forefront of the youth social action movement for over one hundred years and the annual Scout Community Week this year attracted over 160,000 volunteers who worked on over 3,000 projects.

Wayne Bulpitt, UK Chief Commissioner of The Scout Association, comments on commitment to youth social action: ‘Volunteering is at the heart of Scouting, and this Campaign is a great way to encourage even more young people to get out and do something positive for their community.’

He continues: ‘As well as helping out those around them, young people can gain practical skills that they might not learn elsewhere by volunteering. I am so proud that thousands of Scouts across the UK who are already involved in volunteering every year, and I hope to see many more adults and young people stepping up and volunteering over the next few years.’ The campaign asks the public to pledge via its website, stepuptoserve.org.uk or by tweeting using #iwill to show their commitment to the Campaign and to highlight their contribution.

See what our CEO, Matt Hyde, had to say about the initiative

Categories


Archived News

Categories

Archive by Date