This was, briefly, a great position – National Lottery funding to develop and deliver a Youth Action approach (see previous post) within the British Red Cross. It had a huge and highly trained youth membership, who were often unable to find roles that allowed them to practice what they had learned. This new national role provided that space for that to happen, at the level of the local groups.
I created a funding mechanism, with a really accessible application process, and got the first few groups off the ground.
Unfortunately, the developing policy within BRCS meant that this idea was never able to meet the potential or the expectations, and this became fairly clear within months… The writing was on the wall and sadly, within a few years, the Youth department was wound up.