Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Youth Environmental Service?

The Youth Environmental Service is a new programme, being built from the ground-up. It aims to enable young people from all backgrounds to access meaningful and rewarding paid work palcement opportunities in the environmental sector for up to a year.

By having hands-on opportunities to develop new skills, make new connections, and build confidence, YES aims to empower the next generation of environmentalists who can lead the change we need to see across our society.

What is the long-term impact you want to see?

YES aims to create positive environmental change in our natural world, and by doing so instil skills, mindsets and behaviours among the next generation that will prepare them to thrive.

This means supporting levelling up by helping to connect divided individuals and communities over opportunities to protect our environment. It means creating happy, healthy citizens who understand and want to be part of positive green change. And it means developing the skills, collective capacity, and networks to make that change possible.

How would the YES vision work in practice?

YES would work with existing organisations, providing a template and support that would enable them to create the kinds of hands-on placements that could help transform young lives.

This would include:

• Accessible role matching, enabling organisations to recruit the best young talent for the role and helping people from all backgrounds to find and apply for jobs that would allow them to make a difference

• Ongoing learning and mentorship to equip participants with the skills they need to thrive, in their current roles, future careers, and wider lives.

• Opportunities to connect across individuals, organisations and entire industries, creating rounded and networked individuals who can work together to solve some of the trickiest environmental challenges we face

• Future employability support, helping participants move from placement to a career that maximises their skills and interests to do something positive for our world

What kinds of work would it involve?

While there are any number of potential jobs in the future that could be classified as environmental, opportunities in the Youth Environmental Service will primarily be focused on practical roles with a direct positive environmental impact.

They will be entry level, enabling young people to get a first foot in the door of a historically highly competitive and unequal sector, and they should inspire new possibilities and new directions which aren't always highlighted in the current careers/educational context.

Who is eligible to participate?

The programme is for young people aged 18-25.

There are no additional requirements in terms of experience or education - just a positive attitude and interest in helping doing the hard work to help save our natural world.

What are the benefits to taking part?

For participants, YES offers the opportunity to develop practical skills that will set them up for a career in the sector.

They will be able to build confidence in themselves, learn new skills, understand the causes of environmental catastrophe, connect to other young people with similar priorities, and work together to find solutions to local and national challenges.

What are your long-term goals?

In line with the Environmental Audit Committee's third Green Jobs report, which itself builds on the work of the Wildlife and Countryside Link on a National Nature Service, we want to see 10,000 new work placements being created every year from 2025.

These would range from jobs in nature-restoration to building climate resilience, mitigating carbon emissions to sequestering carbon in our atmosphere, all focused on helping us prevent the worst of the potential environmental and biodiversity crises facing our country.

What is your plan to make this reality?

We are currently working with the National Lottery Heritage Fund on their Legacy for nature and communities for the Queen’s Jubilee programme, which will place up to 70 young people from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds into environmental jobs across the country.

This will be our opportunity to pilot the model, exploring how it might work in practice, where we could extend and improve our vision, and what impact that would have on the young people, the organisations, and the wider communities in which the placements happen.

Alongside this we are working to build a broad base of support for the idea. We will be connecting businesses, policy-makers, charities and the public, helping to showcase the potential for a Youth Environmental Service and coordinating a campaign to ensure its long-term potential.

From there we'll be looking to expand our pilot in 2024, scaling up and extending the kinds of placements available to demonstrate the viability of the programme at scale.

Who else would be involved in making it happen?

YES operates as a coordinating and connecting organisation - we help existing environmental charities and businesses expand their workforce and create opportunities for the next generation of workers to get involved.

This means that the day-to-day work done by Youth Environmental Service participants would be with existing environmental organisations, ranging from national chairties like Groundwork or the RSPB to regionally focused organisations such as the Heart of England Forest or Small Woods.

Alongside this, we work with specialist training organisations to help deliver skills-based training programmes, and specialist mentors who can support prospective and current participants in their time on the programme.

Who is funding your current work?

Our first phase of exploration was funded by the Pears Foundation, a philanthropic organisation based in London.

You can find out more about the Pears Foundation here.

Who have you worked with so far?

As part of the first phase, we have connected to more than 100 different individuals and organisations who have helped to shape our collective vision for a Youth Environmental Service.

This includes both national and local environmental organisations, policy makers and advocacy groups, social enterprises, young people and youth charities.

How do I sign-up to be a participant?

We're currently working with the National Lottery and their deliver partner to help develop their programme to place 70 young people from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds into environmental organisations across the country.

The exact details are still being discussed, but if that sounds like an opportunity you'd like to find out more about, the best first step is to sign up for our newsletter, and we'll let you know as soon as the opportunities for our pilot intake are live.