Youth Futures Foundation announced today the appointment of two young members to its board of directors. Alex Morawski and Joel Davis (pictured L-R) were selected following an open call for applicants, aged between 16-25 years, who have direct or indirect experience of facing challenges when trying to get into work.
Alex Morawski is a 21-year old graduate from the University of Warwick, where he studied Politics and International Studies. Alex grew up in Barnsley. He became passionate about issues of social mobility and inequality after seeing the underrepresentation of working class and state educated people at university. Now out of university and looking for work, Alex brings to Youth Futures Foundation a wealth of insight from his own experiences and that of his family and peers. Alex is keen to use his knowledge to help tackle the many barriers that young people face when looking for work. Alex also volunteers in Barnsley as a tutor with the Refugee Council to provide English classes to help refugees integrate into the local community.
Joel Davis is the founder and CEO of Tutors United, a social enterprise that recruits and trains university students to provide affordable tutoring to primary school children who need it most. As a teenager Joel faced a number of challenges when trying to find work. Following a period of unemployment and with a desire to support young people from a similar background to his own, Joel set-up Tutors United. Joel is also a trustee of the multi-national charity School for Social Entrepreneurs and has been a key advisor in helping UK wide funders to engage and support young people in social entrepreneurship.
On welcoming Joel and Alex, Anna Smee, Youth Futures Foundation, CEO said: ‘We are committed to ensuring that young people’s voices influence our policy and funding decisions to bring about systemic change for young people facing barriers to work. The appointment of Joel and Alex is an important first step. The need is even more acute following the COVID-19 crisis, as young people will be among the hardest hit.’
Joe Montgomery, Youth Futures Foundation, Chair, said: ‘We warmly welcome Joel and Alex to the Board. Their insights and experience will be invaluable in providing important young perspectives at the highest strategic level.’
The vacancies attracted a large volume of high calibre young people using the BeApplied recruitment platform. It is an online hiring tool that promotes diversity and inclusion by stripping out any identifiable information that could lead to bias.
The Young Board Directors are appointed on the same terms as all Board members with the same rights and responsibilities. They join our current Board of six members, including the Chair, who bring a wealth of experience between them including youth employment issues, public and statutory sector governance, policy, business, finance, operations, management and consultancy.
