YOUTHOOD.
youthhood / noun
The state, condition or period of being young.
YOUTHOOD is our organisation's shortened name, inspired by the word youthhood. Both are pronounced “YOUTH-HOOD”. The spelling differs intentionally: one is our brand, the other the word that inspired it.
But what is it actually like to be young?
What is it actually like being young?
Youthhood can be exciting, uncertain, ordinary, complicated and full of possibility — sometimes all in the same week. There is no single experience of growing up. Explore some of the different dimensions of young people's lives.
Belonging shapes development.
Friendship, identity, family and community connections can shape how a young person understands themselves and their place in the world. Opportunities to experience belonging are not distributed equally.
One life. Many systems.
Imagine a young person approaching adulthood. They're thinking about their future, studying, spending time with friends and exploring their interests. Then their circumstances change. What happens when different parts of one life meet different institutional responsibilities?
Thinking about what's next.
A young person is considering a college course, exploring possible careers and spending time with friends. Different adults support different parts of their plans.
Education, interests, relationships and future plans are parts of one connected life.
An education provider considers progression; a careers adviser explores next steps. Each may hold valuable but different information.
The problem isn't necessarily that nobody cares. Professionals and organisations may each be fulfilling their responsibilities. The young person still experiences the combined effects of the decisions, relationships and transitions surrounding them.
FICTIONAL ILLUSTRATION — This is an invented example to help explain a possible experience, not a real young person's testimony or a claim that all services operate in this way.
That's why YOUTHOOD exists.
Young people experience the combined effects of the decisions, opportunities, relationships and environments surrounding them. Organisations may each have important responsibilities, but the connections between those responsibilities can be difficult to strengthen.
To #RedefineYouthDevelopment.
YOUTHOOD is a UK youth development infrastructure organisation working across the youth-facing landscape. We exist to strengthen how youth development is understood, how young people's experiences inform decisions, and how institutions take responsibility for the conditions surrounding adolescence.
We're building frameworks, learning opportunities, partnerships and routes to influence that connect young people, professionals, places and public systems. We don't seek to replace the people and organisations already supporting young people. We want to strengthen what becomes possible when their work connects.
Development is connected.
Experiences, relationships, opportunities and institutions shape one another. Understanding one part should not mean overlooking the rest.
Rights must come first.
Young people have rights in the present. Their experiences deserve regard, and institutional duties should not be treated as optional or interchangeable.
Responsibility must be shared.
Supporting development extends across organisational boundaries. Collaboration should connect, not erase, the distinct responsibilities held by different bodies.
Want to explore the deeper argument? Our Case for Youth Development examines developmental environments, structural gaps, rights and existing responsibilities.
Explore the CaseUnderstand. Connect. Change.
Our mission is translated into three connected purposes. Each helps us move from understanding young people's experiences to strengthening the relationships, decisions and systems that surround them.
Develop a shared language for youth development.
Build the language, frameworks and learning that help young people, professionals and organisations understand adolescence and youth development more coherently.
Connected by design. These are complementary purposes, not stages that must be completed in order. Understanding can develop through action, connection can strengthen learning, and change requires continuing accountability to the experiences of young people.
Three levels. One mission.
Understanding the challenge is just the beginning. YOUTHOOD works towards change through three connected approaches: learning from experience, strengthening how places work together and developing proposals for national reform.
Experiences should help shape decisions.
We create spaces where young people and professionals can explore experiences, develop shared understanding and strengthen the route from insight to meaningful organisational learning and influence.
Our ambitions for 2030.
We're not measuring success simply by how large YOUTHOOD becomes. Our longer-term ambitions concern how the wider youth-facing landscape understands development, values experience, connects responsibilities and creates opportunities for young people.
A stronger shared understanding of youth development.
We want adolescence and youth development to be understood more coherently across services, institutions and society, recognising young people's strengths, experiences and circumstances beyond any one professional or policy area.
Ambitions, not achievements. These are directions YOUTHOOD intends to work towards. Their realisation depends on learning, collaboration, resourcing, public decisions and accountability.
Development happens together.
Youth development isn't the responsibility of one organisation, service or profession. Different people and institutions have different roles to play. Explore the thinking behind our mission, discover how we're creating change or find a way to become involved.
Understand the case.
Go deeper into what youth development means, why it matters, the conditions surrounding adolescence and the case for structural change.
Explore the Case for Youth Development 02 / THE HOWExplore our changemaking.
Discover how YOUTHOOD connects lived experience, local partnerships and national reform across its three Levels of Change.
Explore Our Changemaking 03 / GET INVOLVEDBe part of the mission.
There are different ways to contribute to youth development. Explore opportunities to connect, participate, collaborate and help shape what happens next.
Explore Development Happens Together