EFL Trust Board Trustee and young NCS champion announced within New Year Honours
Charlotte Hill, Senior Independent Trustee on the EFL Trust Board has been awarded an OBE for services to young people in the 2020 New Year Honours.
Charlotte joined the EFL Board in March 2015 and has been a driving force behind the charity’s governance reforms and strategy, especially towards creating opportunities for young people.
Charlotte became Chief Executive of Step Up to Serve, the charity that coordinates the #iwill campaign, in April 2014. Under her leadership, the campaign has grown from strength to strength and over 1,000 organisations have pledged to the campaign, from an initial fifty at its launch.
During the period of Charlotte’s leadership, £500m of Government funding has been secured for youth services due to collective lobbying by #iwillcampaign youth-sector partners and £70m+ of funding for youth social action has been secured through the #iwill Fund. 300 inspirational #iwill Ambassadors from across the UK now represent the campaign.
Charlotte is currently on maternity leave and will be returning to Step Up To Serve in Spring 2020. Prior to joining the #iwill campaign, she had been Chief Executive of UK Youth. Charlotte also worked for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) as their Parliamentary Advisor.
Charlotte Hill said:
“I’m honoured and humbled to receive this award. Young people aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow. They have the energy, talent and ideas to change the world today. So all the credit goes to them, to my wonderful colleagues at Step Up To Serve, and to the brilliant organisations I have had the joy of working with who are committed to growing the power of youth.”
Also featured in this Jaunary’s honours is Jack Marshall, NCS Graduate and former Regional Youth Board member of EFL Trust who has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours.
Jack, 21 from Belton, near Grantham, was awarded a BEM in the New Year Honours for his fundraising and campaigning for the rights of disabled children.
Jack himself, has Moebius syndrome, which has left him with no facial nerves. He also has no cerebellum which affects his balance and coordination, but despite his health issues he has raised thousands of pounds for charity.
Talking about the award, Jack said he was very “honoured and privileged” to have been recognised.
“I am surprised, I am only 21,” he said.
“I am very honoured and privileged. I don’t do it for the awards or the recognition.
“I do it to help people, people less fortunate than myself.”
In 2016, Jack graduated from National Citizen Service with Element Society. During the social action stage of the programme, Jack played a key part alongside 15 members of his group in establishing a project called “Access Sheffield” about improving disabled access within Sheffield.
The project, that was nominated for a National Award and featured as a part of NCS Action Day, was designed to help raise awareness of how difficult it can be for wheelchair users and disabled people to navigate a straight forward journey independently around the city.
You can see more about the project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vStXWmTOolI
As well as his NCS social action work, Jack has undertaken numerous challenges including walking over the Humber Bridge, sponsored runs and scaling Ben Nevis which took over 19 hours to complete.
He has also spoken about his experiences on NCS and the challenges he has faced and subsequently overcame in the House of Lords and House of Commons.
Mike Evans, Director of Operations, EFL Trust, said:
“We were delighted to hear the news about both Charlotte and Jack and are proud to have such strong individuals involved with the EFL Trust.
“At the EFL Trust, our vision is to create stronger, healthier and more active communities and our programmes are designed to deliver these outcomes.
“It is fantastic to see two people involved with our organisation in such different ways, honoured in this way and we congratulate them both.”
