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Dear young Europeans,


We're really excited to be re-launching the #OurHomeOurVote campaign. We are shifting from voter registration to expanding our campaigning for residence-based voting rights. We partnered with Polish Migrants Organise for Change (POMOC) to deliver this campaign.

We are looking to recruit 4 Voting Rights Champions to work on this joint Young Europeans Network - POMOC project. With the Election Bill moving quickly through Parliament, applications for this role will close on 22 July 8 pm. Each Champion will work around 4 hours a week (paid) with an immediate start until October.

Are you passionate about voting rights and would like some additional work? Find out more information about the roles and the application form, please click here.

This week, our team also published a briefing paper on residency-based voting rights. You can read it here for an overview of our campaign aims.
This week, we're continuing our Volunteer Stories series with Robert, one of the volunteers who has been active in the #OurHomeOurVote voter registration campaign.

Happy reading and we're looking forward to hearing from you if you're interested in the new Voting Rights Champions role.

Best wishes,

Alexandra and Lara

Alexandra Bulat and Lara Parizotto are the Co-Managers of the Young Europeans Network, the youth wing of the3million.
 
Young Europeans Volunteer Story
Hello! I'm Robert, I'm 19 years old and I am a Young Europeans Network volunteer.
Where is ‘home for you’? Tell us a bit about what makes it home!

For me, home is where you feel safe, where you have built your life, where you have built friendships, relationships, and made memories. Perhaps where you've built a career or where you see yourself living in the foreseeable future. For me, the UK is my home, because I have done all of those things.

What does being an ‘EU/European citizen’ mean to you?

Being an EU citizen means I have the freedom to work, travel, and establish myself in any other EU country as I want, and knowing that my rights will be protected in that country regardless of my citizenship.

What do you do for a living?

I am a student at the moment, having just finished my second year of university.

How many languages do you speak?

I can speak two languages fluently, Romanian and English, and I can carry myself in a conversation in French.

How long have you been a YEN volunteer for?

I have been involved with YEN since March this year, when I became aware of their work around voting rights for EU citizens in local elections.

Is Pluto a planet?

No. I will not elaborate further.


What do you do in the Young Europeans Network?

As part of the Young Europeans Network, I have been part of some initiatives on the ground in my hometown, helping to bring awareness to fellow Europeans in the town of their rights. This often meant going into shops and talking to the local Romanian diaspora, and putting up leaflets in likely hotspots for European people. Other than that, I have also translated some media into Romanian, from leaflets and posters to video subtitles.

If you could ask the Home Office to change 3 things about UK immigration policy, what would these be?

Firstly, I would ask the Home Office to end its hostile environment policy, which does nothing to achieve its goals of deterring illegal migration. This policy has not only caused harm to non-EU communities for years, but will now be extended to EU communities as well. Secondly, I would reduce the cost of gaining citizenship, to a more reasonable figure which reflects the actual cost of processing a citizenship application; the current high cost of citizenship is a ruthless and disproportionate instrument which excludes low-income migrants from achieving citizenship. Finally, I would ask the Home Office to begin producing physical documents for those who have gained settled and pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. The government's online immigration infrastructure is unfit for use, as we saw last month when gov.uk was taken offline, and when people had to wait for more than an hour just to use an online portal to apply for settled status.

What can politicians in the UK do to increase the representation and participation of young people in decision-making?

In my opinion, politicians could increase the representation and participation of young people in decision making by reaching out and contacting organisations such as ours which involve young people. There are signs this is happening, as we were invited by the Home Office to discuss what issues we had with the EU Settlement Scheme and general immigration concerns, but this needs to be on a larger scale and revolve around all issues relevant to young people, such as high knife crime, lack of affordable housing, and general economic and ecologic uncertainty.
Post of the week - Get heard in the #LondonVoices survey!
Tell funders, local and national government what needs to change

If you're in the civil sector and in London, please fill in the #LondonVoices survey here.

The Young Europeans Network is a delivery partner for this project.
People are more likely to feel they belong in a city they've helped shape. So, this is an opportunity for civil society organisations of all shapes and sizes, from across London, to get heard!

“London Voices – the journey to full participation” is a research project into the mechanisms that facilitate equal, inclusive, representative civic and democratic participation which can ensure Londoners trust and take part in social action and decisions impacting them, their families, their communities and their city.

Your answers will highlight structural barriers, help shape best practice on civic and democratic participation and inform recommendations for what funders, local authorities and the government can do differently to support work and advocacy in this area.

The survey only takes around 10 minutes and you will be able to enter a lottery to win one of the three £100 cash prizes.

Take part in the survey now!

While the survey is hosted online, the research team can also do surveys by phone, including with interpretation in different languages, if necessary. You have a few weeks to complete it.

The research is funded by the Citizenship and Integration Initiative (CII), a pooled fund held by Trust
for London, and by the UK Democracy Fund, an independent and non-partisan pooled fund set up by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

Your voice and that of the Londoners you work with matters, so fill in the survey now and then share
it in your networks, so we can reach as many under-represented Londoners as possible.


Thank you for reading our weekly Young Europeans Network update.


Did you know the3million is the leading non-profit organisation of EU citizens in the UK?

We are grateful for your support, as we simply couldn't have campaigned for citizens' rights over the four years without you.

If you can afford it, please become a paying supporter today to allow the campaign to continue and protect our rights by upholding the Government to the Withdrawal Agreement and to the promises made to EU citizens our lives would remain unchanged: https://www.the3million.org.uk/donate

You can also:
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If you are a British citizen living in the EU, we recommend you support our partner organisation British in Europe.

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