UK Youth has announced its appointment of an interim CEO as well as a new partnership with high street retailer Primark.
The national youth work charity has appointed former ACEVO chief executive Vicky Browing to lead it on an interim basis, replacing outgoing CEO Ndidi Okezie.
Meanwhile, Primark has pledged £175,000 to support UK Youth’s network of more than 8,000 organisations across the country as part of its partnership.
Primark: ‘We want to do more to support young people’
UK Youth, which recorded an income of £14.2m in the year to 31 March 2023, said it would use Primark’s funding to offer small grants to local youth organisations.
Okezie said: “This much-needed money will help unlock youth work for even more young people, empowering them with the educational, social and emotional skills to thrive and contribute at every stage of their lives.
“Youth work is life-changing and often life-saving, playing a vital role in supporting young people, providing safe spaces, with youth workers as a trusted adult for them to talk to.
“By focusing on providing consistent, high-quality youth development provision, we can create a society that nurtures its young people and helps them reach their full potential.”
Kari Rodgers, Primark UK retail director, said: “We know youth services have experienced a number of cuts over the years and so to coincide with our 50th anniversary we want to do more to support young people in the communities around our stores.
“We’re delighted to be working with UK Youth to help provide grants to projects across the UK.”
Browning to be appointed interim CEO
The announcement came on the same day that UK Youth announced that it had appointed a new interim CEO to replace outgoing Okezie, who announced last month that she would be departing the role at the end of this year.
Browning, who also previously worked for 16 years at independent publishing company Haymarket, will be replacing Okezie when she vacates her role in December.
She said: “I’m really chuffed to be joining UK Youth to build on all the great work that Ndidi and the whole team have been doing.”
