The wellbeing and future of all young people in areas surrounding the club are important to us at West Ham United.
They form not only the future lifeblood of the club itself, but they are also the very future of the communities we exist in.
With this in mind, it is important that as a club we are investing in youths to ensure they have a voice in their future, especially at a time when there have been many challenges.
Throughout the pandemic, the club and foundation have delivered a multi-layered approach to youth engagement, consisting of activities reaching thousands of young people.
Adding to this, earlier this month a group of young people from the foundation’s programmes represented us at a national one-day Premier League Youth Summit which aimed to celebrate and provide an opportunity to amplify the voices of young people, and share their ideas to bring positive change to their communities.
Hosted in the Captain’s Lounge at London Stadium, just before the summit began, our group were surprised by Ben Johnson and Conor Coventry, who video called them with words of advice and to answer their questions.
This was very well timed, with this being the first time some of the participants had taken part in an activity of this scale. Some encouragement from people they look up to was reassuring and incredibly inspiring.
Despite the event taking place online this year, there was still a lot of enthusiasm from all involved and as soon as the event started, work from all of the young people at each club was on display, and our group were excitedly pointing out their own pieces.
The event posed important questions such as how to improve relationships between young people and the police and their thoughts on current key issues.
Our group were quick to respond to each, giving their true feelings and insightful thoughts.
The young people had an extremely positive experience and as someone who has been involved in a range of these activities, it reiterates the value of the ongoing efforts of everybody at West Ham United to deliver opportunities which enhance the lives of people and communities surrounding us.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here