In December last year Lambeth, Jaqueline Gomes-Neves was elected Lambeth Youth Mayor. We interviewed the 17 year-old from Loughborough Junction about her plans for young people in the borough and the fact that she is the first woman to be elected to the position
You’re the borough’s first female youth mayor and lots of people have commented on that – how do you feel about that? Why do you think it has taken a while for a female to be elected to this position?
Yes! I am indeed Lambeth’s first female Youth Mayor, and I am very proud and honoured to serve our young people. I now have a mandate to represent our mutual concerns, issues and views- and I intend to utilise this as best I can.
Entering politics takes a lot of mental strength as well as a strong disposition, regardless of gender, however I believe that sometimes girls have a fear of entering this traditional ‘old boys club’ as they fear the challenges that will follow. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you my thesis on why it has taken so long for a female to be elected, here, as I don’t have one. What I can tell you is that the young people of Lambeth have decided that I am the best ‘candidate’ not best ‘female’ to represent them and therefore I will do my absolute best to represent their views and make sure that we are no longer seen as passive assets to this community, but outspoken and assertive young people who are seeking to bring about the little changes that will eventually produce a big change.
However, I will add that I hope my achievement as the first female youth mayor for Lambeth has inspired more young girls, and even older women, to get out there and compete confidently in all areas of life, whether that be at work or at school or even as minuscule as getting the highest mark in a class test! When we manage to break the glass ceiling for ourselves we subconsci——ously open a door for someone else and it is time that we started empowering one another.
What do you think will be the big issues for youth in Lambeth next year?
I feel that a lack of youth participation in the last general election means the current Government isn’t taking young people’s issues seriously enough. The Government feels less accountable to us as a result. In Lambeth, especially, young people are facing problems around unemployment, safety, housing, benefits and in some cases lack of support from schools and youth clubs. These are areas that I plan to lobby the Government, City Hall and the council about. I plan to make it very clear that our young people are the future, and so we must do all we can to support them, and empower them to grab every opportunity by the lapels.
Could you talk us through your election pledges and how you plan to achieve them? What are the projects you would like to fund with the money you have been allocated?
My aims during my time in office are to increase participation in sports, youth forums and drama with disabled young people and women (groups often underrepresented in these areas), to promote the achievements and hard work of our young people through ‘Youth Mayor Achievement’ awards and to promote healthy living by developing partnerships with local gyms and sport clubs to offer free sessions to our young students, residents and workers. I am also very passionate about social cohesion and thus plan to strengthen the link between schools and youth clubs so that they can both work together in order to provide an enriching education beyond the confines of the school walls outside school hours – creating a larger support system for our young people. Finally, we live in a society where it is increasingly harder to attain a job and so I will be working to encourage businesses to open their doors; offering our young people high quality work experience in their chosen career sectors. I plan on doing this by meeting with corporate, firms and local business managers to negotiate work experience placements which we will then promote, the availability, to our schools and youth clubs.
Finally I am currently working with our Cabinet member Daniel Longe to provide our young people with an opportunity to express their acting skills in a wide-ranging topical film project which will involve different genres based on ‘real’ young people coming to moral and life changing realisations over the course of their lives. These short 5-10 minute clips will not only offer our young people an opportunity to star in the positive film project where they can put to show their talents but it will offer an opportunity for our youth to offer their positive life stories in order for the story line to be potentially scripted, acted out through our series and hopefully used as a tool of inspiration for other young people who may be going through similar circumstances. This will also offer our young people the opportunity to learn behind the scene skills e.g. learning how to film, how to direct and even how to write a script.
(If interested or would like to support this initiative, please follow and message us on twitter as we are currently in the process of planning: @Jgomesneves or @CGL-Online)
In regards to the budget allocation, my team and I must wait for applications to come through next year, when we open our funding applications, in order to visualise the types of projects in need of funding. We will then decide as a team who we believe the budget should be allocated to according to our manifesto points. This is not something that is pre-determined. However, there are several factors that require consideration when allocating a budget e.g. considering its effectiveness, whether it will merely create a short term effect and eventually wear out once the money has gone or whether it is long term plan, worth investing in, which aims to use our budget to sow the seeds they plan to grow. We must also take into account the number of young people they intend to benefit from their initiative and whether an organisation is being inclusive or exclusive in their distribution of opportunity… However I am in no doubt that my strong team and I will do our best to make sure that the best and most beneficial projects for our young people are funded with our 25k grant!
The Youth Cabinet was launched recently – how will this help?
The youth cabinet is a new and exciting initiative, which comprises of four young people. The post will allow our elected youth cabinet members to pinpoint specific areas of interest and make a grassroots level change by working closely with councillors/cabinet members in their specific areas of interest in order to conduct research and target and tackle issues that they find most recurring in these areas. Key areas of interest, known as their portfolios will be in the following areas: employment and training, youth services, health, crime and safety, education and Housing and Environment. This will be a great opportunity for our cabinet members to get in depth knowledge in a specific area of concern. I am sure that Poppy, Christiana, Emmanuel and Daniel will do a great job as they all bring something different and unique to the team ! For example, we have Poppy who is very passionate about the environment right through to Daniel who is passionate about tackling crime and young peoples perceptions in the media.
What do you want to do when you leave school? Would you like to become a politician?
I am currently studying for my A-Levels at the Sacred Heart Catholic School, Southwark. After sixth form I will be attending a campus university to read either Human Social and Political Sciences or Politics and International studies.
My lifelong desire is to bring about change to people’s lives. I first put this philosophy to reality in about 2007 when I became an active member of my local youth club (the Marcus Lipton Youth Centre) where I have now, recently, managed to set up the ‘Brixton Youth Forum’ which has managed to bring together the local young residents of Brixton who were once perceived as hopeless; we work together to represent the views of our local young people to local higher authorities.
My school has taught me the importance and reality of competition in the real world, and I thought it was only right to pass this information on to the young boys/girls of our club (many of whom have been kicked out or dropped out of mainstream education) so that they too would not miss out on the opportunities of life. I have loved every minute of working with these young people and watching them open their eyes to the realities of this world. Not only have they opened their eyes, but I have watched Fabian, Felisha, Kearny, Lashai, Felisha and our other members turn from immature individuals who were once scared of the competition out there into a Vice-Chair, Treasury, Secretary and a board of trustees who are now ready to compete and ‘become the competition’ they were once scared of – because of the new knowledge and capital they have acquired from our meetings and events at Parliament where they have had to adapt to new surroundings and meet people of a calibre they had not yet been exposed to. We are also know giving back to our community as we will be visiting the homeless soup kitchen in Clapham ‘Ace of Clubs’ on the 23rd December 2013 to help serve those who are disadvantaged. Growing food banks in Lambeth (and London boroughs as a whole) is also another issue that needs to be addressed, considering George Osbourne’s recent announcements of a move towards a full recovery. Ironic as the people are not reaping any benefits of an economy moving towards a full recovery!
Would I like to become a politician? Well I would like to represent those who cannot represent themselves whilst spreading cultural capital to those in need. Do I sound like a future politician? I’ll leave that for you to decipher.
What will be different about your politics to those who have preceded you?
I am confident and capable of questioning politicians, whilst putting the young people of Lambeth at the focal point of conversations and debates. It is important to have a strong voice, especially when representing young people, as politicians have a way of making you passive in their presence if you are not assertive enough to make your points heard- and I believe that I hold these useful tools of character that allow for my voice to be heard.
My politics will be different in that I plan to be more direct with our young people and I plan to use their opinions and concerns to navigate and steer my agenda. I plan on doing this by making myself, our deputy and our youth cabinet visible and accessible to the young people that work, live and study in Lambeth, by making frequent visits to schools and youth clubs. It is important that we are regularly updated on the issues of those who elected us are concerned about- it is no longer acceptable that once you have elected your youth representatives, they are no longer in your rare view.
