UK Youth is a national youth work charity founded in 1911 that delivers national programmes to provide opportunities to young people. The charity is an umbrella body with 40 local youth associations from across England. UK Youth's national programmes are delivered locally in partnership with its members, and many are supported by corporate partners. The organisation has six main areas of work, including young peoples' participation, advocacy for youth work, accrediting non-formal learning, and CSR programmes with national companies. It also runs a network of alternative education provisions called Youth Achievement Foundations. Its headquarters are at Avon Tyrrell Activity Centre in the New Forest, Hampshire, where over 20,000 young people take part in residential learning activities each year. It also has a London office. Management The patron of the charity is Her Royal Highness Princess Anne. The current president is Nigel Mansell, CBE. The chair is Anne Stoneham, MBE, who has been on the board of trustees for over 20 years and is an academic. The chief executive, Ndidi Okezie, took up her post in January 2020. Her predecessor was Anna Smee, who is now the CEO of Youth Futures Foundations. History The charity's beginnings date back to 1911 as the National Organisation of Girls Clubs. Among those who brought it about was Flora Freeman who gave practical help as well as assisting its creation in her writing. It became the National Association of Girls Clubs and Mixed Clubs in 1944 (or 1945) and the National Association of Youth Clubs in 1961. In 1987, it became known as Youth Clubs UK and adopted its current title UK Youth in 2001. In 2010-11, it celebrated its centenary. During that year the tag line of the charity change from the 'Network for Quality Work with Young People' to 'Positive for Youth'. Birmingham Library holds the full archive of materials from the history of the organisation. In 2017 UK Youth merged with the charity Ambition. Missions and objectives UK Youth has the following three charitable objectives: Youth work development The charity’s core work focuses on the development of youth work by providing training to youth workers, publications and toolkits to support their work and regular events and reports aimed at those that work with young people. UK Youth's work aims to apply the principles of effective youth work to the contemporary interests and needs of young people via programmes that offer accredited learning