We’re delighted to announce the Young Essex Assembly (South) as September’s winner of the Move With Us Move Maker Award, recognising their outstanding commitment to helping more young people discover opportunities to be active, improve their wellbeing and connect with their communities.
The Move Maker Award, part of Active Essex’s Move With Us campaign, celebrates individuals and groups who are making a positive difference through physical activity, inspiring others to move more and creating healthier, happier communities across Essex.
Turning Youth Voice into Action
Following the results of the Make Your Mark Survey, young people identified health and wellbeing, alongside culture, media and sport, as some of the issues that mattered most to them. Rather than simply highlighting these challenges, members of Young Essex Assembly (South) set out to explore how they could be part of the solution.
Recognising the important role physical activity plays in supporting both physical and mental wellbeing, the group invited representatives from Active Essex to one of their meetings. Ahead of the session, they requested local data and insight about activity levels among young people, demonstrating a genuine desire to understand the challenges facing their peers before identifying ways to address them.
The conversation that followed was thoughtful, insightful and action focused. Together, the young people explored how they could encourage greater participation in sport and physical activity while raising awareness of the opportunities that already exist within local communities.
Connecting Young People to Opportunities
One challenge quickly became clear. Whilst there are a wide range of activities, clubs and services available across South Essex, many young people simply aren’t aware of them or don’t know how to access them.
To help tackle this, the group identified the Essex Youth Map as a valuable tool for connecting young people with local opportunities. However, their ambitions went far beyond simply promoting the resource. They wanted to encourage more young people to take part in sport, physical activity and wellbeing opportunities while strengthening links between the organisations that support them.
Instead of creating a standalone event, the group made a the decision to maximise their impact by attending existing community events taking place across South Essex.
Throughout the summer, members of Young Essex Assembly (South) attended events across every district and borough in the region, helping young people discover local activities, signposting them to opportunities through the Essex Youth Map and raising awareness of the support available in their communities.
A Truly Youth-Led Initiative
What makes this project particularly impressive is that it has been driven entirely by young people.
Members of the assembly researched community events across South Essex, identified where they could have the greatest impact and developed a practical approach that allows them to engage with more young people while working alongside local partners.
Their work is a fantastic example of meaningful youth voice in action, showing how young people can use insight and evidence to influence change, develop solutions and create positive outcomes for their communities.
By helping young people discover opportunities to be active, improving awareness of local provision and strengthening community networks, their efforts are helping to create healthier and more connected communities across South Essex.
Lee Monk, Relationship Manager at Active Essex, said:
“What has impressed me most about the YEA South team is their determination to move beyond discussion and take real action. The young people recognised that health, wellbeing and physical activity were important issues for their peers and immediately began exploring how they could make a difference.”
“By promoting local sport and physical activity opportunities and raising awareness of the Essex Youth Map as a useful resource, they are helping more young people get active, improve their wellbeing and feel connected to their local community. They are a truly deserving recipient of this month’s Move Maker Award.”
The passion, leadership and commitment shown by Young Essex Assembly (South) highlights the powerful role young people can play in shaping healthier, more connected communities. Their willingness to listen, learn and lead is already creating positive change across South Essex, and we’re proud to recognise them as our latest Move With Us Move Maker Award winner.
Congratulations to everyone involved and thank you for helping more young people discover opportunities to move, connect and thrive.
