Are you passionate about supporting young people – especially those who have experiences of care or need extra help to make the transition to adulthood, parenthood, employment and education?

Dean and Cauvin Young People’s Trust is one of Scotland’s oldest charities – working in Edinburgh since 1733. Today, we exist to be a place of hope for vulnerable and care experienced children, young people and families in Edinburgh and the Lothians and we do this via our interconnected services which include:

• 2 residential houses for young people aged 15-21 and young mums and babies

• Our Community and Transition team which delivers support to young people and families in the community

• Our Wellbeing Hub and outings, breaks and activities

• Room 4U our teenage fostering service.

We have been working hard in the last few years to redesign our services to best meet the recommendations of The Promise. We are now looking for new trustees to join us on the next stage of our development as we seek to deliver high-quality care and support with the voices of young people at the heart of all we do.

Join us

This is an incredible opportunity to make a difference with young people and build your skills alongside our other trustees. Our Board will always contain those with experience in key areas of work with young people including social work, education and fostering as well as finance and organisational governance. As a part of our origins, we also have representatives from:

• The Sheriff Principal of the Lothians and Borders

• The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

• The Royal High School of Edinburgh

• The Presbytery of Edinburgh of the Church of Scotland

• The Councillors of the City of Edinburgh Council

• The Faculty of Advocates

Skills and experience

It is important that we continue to build and diversify our board to ensure we have a range of voices and experiences represented to help us reflect and understand the needs of young people in Edinburgh today.

We are recruiting for Trustees in the following areas:

• Leadership roles in children and families and child-protection focused services (i.e. social work, residential care, family support)

• Charitable / third sector – delivery and governance

• Fundraising and income generation

• Those with lived experiences of care/care-experienced

• Those from ethnically diverse and ethnic minority groups

• Young people aged 18-26

No previous board experience is necessary as full support and training will be provided.

What we do need is someone who is committed to our values and has an understanding of the current issues affecting young people, of high-quality practice approaches as well as the opportunities and challenges of the third sector.

The most important attributes of trustees joining us include:

• A willingness to ask questions

• A shared belief in our values, aims and objectives

• Energy to be an active and engaged trustee

• Desire to be a champion for young people and our organisation

Your responsibilities

Being a trustee requires a time commitment to the role. Duties/tasks include:

• Attend 4 board meetings a year (quarterly)

• Take part in our annual Development session with staff and/or trustees

There are additional opportunities to attend and contribute to our Finance sub-group and/or Care & Support sub-group. These meet 4 times per year (1-2 weeks before a Board meeting).

If this sounds like an opportunity you can bring your time, skills and passion to – we would love to hear from you.