actes Trust trust goes to parliament!
In 2019, Actes Trust's One Planet Pioneers programme was privileged to take part in an event in Westminster, joining over 40 young people from Our Bright Futures programmes from across the UK to meet with MPs and ask for more to be done for the environment.
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At the event, MPs pledged support for ‘The Three Asks’. The asks were:
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Ensuring that more school time is spent learning in and about nature
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That a new Future Jobs scheme is funded that allows the environmental sector to support young people into environmental, conservation, horticulture and other careers
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That the Government, employers, businesses, schools and charities pay more attention to the needs of young people and the environment
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At the event, MPs including Caroline Lucas and Rebecca Pow, heard from some of the inspiring young volunteers on the key changes they want to see for the environment and their lives, including ensuring schools have at least one hour per day of lesson time outdoors.
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Actes Trust were represented at the event by One Planet Pioneers Client Mentor Eilis Sexton along with two local young people from Macmillan Academy, Ella Byrom and Banna Faidulla.
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Banna said: “My favourite part of the trip was listening to the two young people's speeches – Amelia from Skipton and Dara from Ireland as they made me feel a sense of pride and belonging, listening to how passionate they are about the project they are a part of. They were very inspiring. I loved the parliamentary tour and I learnt a lot of new facts about parliament for example that everyone has the right to request to speak to their local MP by coming to the Houses of Parliament. It was also great to meet the founder and sponsor of the event, Rushanara Ali, and to hear what she said about Our Bright Futures.”
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Ella commented: “The whole event was very well organised. It gave us the opportunity to speak to people to get the point across about the big '3 asks'.”
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Eilis Sexton, One Planet Pioneers’ client mentor, said: “The parliamentary reception was a great opportunity for the young people to gain confidence and life skills through networking with MPs and other Our Bright Futures representatives. Both Ella and Banna are heading off to University and by being involved in the project they now have more awareness of environmental jobs that exist, so they are more informed about the courses they might go on to do. ​It was a great opportunity to be a part of something bigger as one of the UK’s 31 Our Bright Futures projects and to make an impact as a collective group to an audience of MPs from across the UK.”


