Youth Organising in Action: 10 Lessons from The Advocacy Academy
- Princess
- Jan 19
- 7 min read
Want to understand what effective youth organising looks like in practice, and why community organising with young people matters now more than ever? Read on...
Why youth organising mattered in 2025
At a time of rising far-right racism, political instability and shrinking public space for young people, 2025 was a year of youth-led organising, strategic action and collective power-building at The Advocacy Academy.
Across the year, young people did not just take part. They listened, decided, organised and led. Together, we focused on one core aim: investing in the infrastructure needed to build long-term youth organising power.
We did this across campaigns, member-led governance, accessible programmes and our purpose-built, third space for our intergenerational community to gather in The Liberation Centre.
We didn’t just create moments of participation, but focused on building the relationships, skills and infrastructure needed for young people to organise for change in the UK.
Below are the ten lessons 2025 taught us about what effective youth organising in the UK really looks like.
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LESSON 1: Listening builds legitimacy and campaign direction
Youth organising starts with listening.
Over the last summer, young people led The Big Listen, in a huge collaborative effort between the Member-led Governance (MLG) team, and the Campaigns, Organising and Community team.
We held 107 one-to-one organising conversations with members and the local community in South London. These were not consultations. They were relational conversations rooted in trust, care and honesty to find out what is making people most angry and most hopeful.
One message came through clearly. Our members wanted to organise against racism and the rise of the far right.
This lesson matters because legitimacy comes from being accountable to your base. When young people set the agenda, campaigns have direction, relevance and momentum.
LESSON 2: Youth-led organising turns anger into action
Anger alone does not create change. Organisation does.
Through the Winning Change programme, young people took what they heard through The Big Listen and turned it into strategy. They debated what was urgent, what was winnable, and what could build power over time.
In one session, they were joined by Zarah Sultana MP to gain her perspective as a former student campaigner on the role of young people in fighting rising racism.
Together, they developed three serious campaign proposals, shaped by lived experience and political analysis. This was youth-led organising in action. Young people cutting through complexity and deciding how to move together.
LESSON 3: Real policy influence takes persistence and collective pressure
In 2025, the Lost Lessons (LL) campaign learned what is needed to shift national conversations and influence policy.
70 young people took part in LL campaign actions.
41 people were mobilised by campaign members to their ‘teach-in’ outside the Department for Education.
The Department for Education agreed that the curriculum should reflect ‘diverse communities’ at GCSE level.
The Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, responded with a warm letter directly to members' calling for an anti-racist education.
We met a strategic campaign target, Professor Becky Francis, several times by finding her! Members spent a year asking her to prioritise an anti-racist education that is not optional, leading to an acknowledgement from Becky Francis that ‘Your contribution has provided valuable insights into this area.’
These were not quick wins. They were the result of sustained organising, collaborative working and young people refusing to be ignored.
LESSON 4: Turnout is a form of power-building
You cannot build people’s power if people do not show up.
In December, young people led The Big Vote (watch the film!), deciding what TAA’s major campaign would be in 2026. The goal was clear. Get at least 40 young people in the room.
Turnout was built through relationships, not just reminders. Members followed up with people they knew and trusted. The stakes were real. If you wanted a say, you had to be there.
The room was full. Strategies were debated and decisions were made. Young people’s power was exercised collectively.
For a deeper dive into ‘Getting people in the room to make big, difficult decisions together’, check out reflections from Calum Green (our Director of Campaigns and Organising).
LESSON 5: Youth governance shifts participation into power
In 2025, after 2 years of preparation with our Member Working Group (MWG), we launched the Member-Led Governance (MLG) pilot, providing the structure to embed young people’s decision-making at The Advocacy Academy.
Through the launch of this pilot, Alex, Kimran, Gabs, Nico, Uzuvira, Jaanai, and Betty all stepped into youth governance roles and responsibilities, tested decision-making frameworks, explored clear accountability processes, and formed new ways for young people and staff to share and build power together.
We tested this with huge success as part of The Big Listen, with the MLG team playing lead roles in organising members, communicating internal decision-making, and planning for The Big Vote event at the end of year!
This lesson is simple. If you want to build youth power externally, you must build it internally too, carefully and with intention.
LESSON 6: Sustained youth organising needs care and structure
Youth organising is not just about campaigns. It is about sustaining movements over time by supporting with care and structure.
In 2025, Halo (one of our member-led campaign groups fighting afro hair discrimination) taught us this as they:
Held their first in-person collective retreat, prioritising rest, strategy and connection
Reached over 1,000 organisational sign-ups from schools and workplaces
Expanded to 19 members, strengthening coordination and leadership
Began building accountability processes to support schools and students
Delivered impactful collaborations with Grace and Green, The Esther Project, Cornrow and Connect, Ivy Wild Exhibition, English Heritage and 3generate.
In a climate of activist burnout, care is not a luxury. It is intentional infrastructure that requires support from a community.
LESSON 7: Youth campaigns grow through collaboration
None of this work happens in isolation.
Lost Lessons showed us the power of coalition-led efforts to power a campaign. Young people worked alongside teachers, education unions and curriculum experts. These collaborations expanded their reach, sharpened their strategy and helped them build new skills.
Campaign members worked alongside organisations (including the NEU, The Runnymede Trust, The Black Curriculum and Action for Race Equality, No More Exclusions, Maslaha, Enact Equality, Everyday Racism, BLAM, ACEN and more) to coordinate a joined-up anti-racist organisers' response to the results of the Curriculum report!
Youth organising grows when parts of the wider movement connect and organise together on shared issues.
LESSON 8: Third spaces make community organising possible
Community organising needs physical space. Young people need space to convene, connect, and organise.
In 2025, we launched our first intergenerational community organising training, How To Make Change, in partnership with InCommon (our 2026 applications are currently open - for all ages!). Spanning ten months, 34 hours, and 9 cuisines… we met monthly to share food and learn how we can build our power together. We had over fifty participants, with 72 years between the youngest attendee (at eight years old) and the oldest!
The Liberation Centre was used by 6,326 people both locally and from across the UK, including 3,408 people under 30s, with peak monthly use of 954 people. None of this would have been possible without the support of our community and partners with your volunteering, donations and bookings!
Together, we raised £28,536 through our bookings and solidarity scale model to support the running of the space, helping us keep it accessible to the local community.
The Liberation Centre made community organising in the UK more visible, accessible and possible in 2025. Donate now to support us in 2026!
LESSON 9: Leadership pathways build long-term organising capacity
Leadership development for young people works best when it is ongoing.
Through our Changemaker Development Programme (CMDP), we delivered 21 placements across internal and external organisations, supporting 14 Changemakers to develop as organisers as part of our cyclical approach to building young people’s capacity to lead in the work and issues they care about.
Through IGNITE, our open-access programming, 83 percent of new members stayed engaged beyond induction, and 92 percent of Summer 2025 participants became members.
Young people need pathways, not rigid pipelines, so they can build their own political identity and capacity to organise.
LESSON 10: Movement-building connects issues and communities
Organising is strongest when it connects struggles. Here are three ways we did this last year…
Three of our incredible members - Juno (Class of 2021), Thalia (Class of 2017) and Vanessa (Class of 2016) - headed to Amsterdam to take part in Systemic Justice’s inspiring workshop on Climate Litigation
The workshop brought together movement organisers, lawyers, and Changemakers to explore how the law (through strategic litigation) can be a tool for strengthening climate justice and connecting with grassroots organising.
“Coming from a community organising background, I’ve recently joined LEF, where I support the Social Justice Fellowship for aspiring lawyers. This workshop gave me an accessible and engaging introduction to strategic litigation, with practical sessions that deepened my understanding of how it can be used to advance climate justice and other social issues. Shoutout to the Systemic Justice team for this incredible learning and networking opportunity.”
- Vanessa, TAA Member
We also launched Roots to Rise, a national youth organising programme for climate action, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and delivered in partnership with Football Beyond Borders, Integrate UK, National Youth Agency, and Friends of the Earth.
Each year, the Roots to Rise programme will support up to 100 young people annually to step into organising roles, lead and engage thousands more in taking climate action, and strengthen the ability of youth organisations to lead change across the climate space for a more just and sustainable future.
We launched JUST-US and created a free, trusted third space for 72 young people in South London to consistently learn, rest and organise together in South London.
What did we learn? Movement-building means organising across identity, place and issue to make change tangible.
DO YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN YOUTH ORGANISING IN 2026?
Are you 14-24, or know someone who is? Fill in our quick form to express your interest, and we’ll follow up!
Are you 25+ and interested in joining our community of supporters? Sign up to our community newsletter here to get the latest news on community organising and young people leading campaigns in the UK.
Got a question? Send us an email at hello@theadvocacyacademy.com
Donate now to support us in 2026!
