The Advocacy Academy
The Advocacy Academy is a transformational Social Justice Youth Organising Movement for young people from South London who are passionate about creating a more fair, just and equal society.
About our organisation
The Advocacy Academy is a youth movement working to create a more fair and just society in which young people are passionate and powerful, meaningfully participating in their communities. Our flagship programme, the Social Justice Leadership Fellowship, is an immersive six-month crash-course in community participation, made up of three residential retreats and bimonthly evening events, delivered by an outstanding team of experts from more than 30 local partner organisations. Across 400 hours our Advocates learn to analyse socio-political conditions, identify innovative solutions, and leverage their power to realise change. Today we are a family of more than 120 young leaders whose campaigns are sending ripples across the nation. Through new programmes we are reaching more young people than ever before and our wider community continues to grow with passionate supporters and volunteers supporting our young people’s actions, united by the deep belief that the future is not fixed and that young people, working together, can shape it for the better.
The change we want to see
We are on a mission to create a new generation of social-change leaders, supporting them to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st Century, from breaking gender binaries to affordable housing. We believe that young people are the engine of the world. At each turning point in our history, young people have been the catalyst – they are the reason we live in a more fair and just society. However, they are rarely given the tools to participate, let alone lead. Today 88% of young people feel like their voices are completely unheard in society. Worryingly, it’s those from less affluent families and black and ethnic minority backgrounds who feel least able to challenge the problems in their communities despite being at the blunt end of most political decisions. Not having a voice in the big conversations that directly affect them has a dangerous impact on the confidence and aspirations of these young people. We exist to give them that voice.