Article

In his speech at the inauguration ceremony, held at the Council Chamber in Port Talbot’s Civic Centre last week, Jake pledged to use his term of office to highlight environmental issues, to work for a more inclusive NPT and to do research into child poverty and into why some pupils were not attending school.

Also at the ceremony, May Al Jadouh, from Sandfields, Port Talbot, a pupil at St Joseph’s Catholic School and Sixth Form College, became the new Deputy Youth Mayor.

May joined the NPT Youth Council last year and is passionate about tackling racism and improving lives for young people in NPT. As a member of the NPT Youth Council, May has been very active in meeting with young people from Sandfields Youth Club, meeting with senior leaders in education and presenting issues to Cabinet members.

Jake pledged to support the new Deputy Youth Mayor over the coming year and he also paid tribute to the work done during her year of office by outgoing NPT Youth Mayor Gracie Jones.

Speaking of the outgoing Youth Mayor, Jake said: “I would like to thank Gracie for being an amazing inspiration and being a mentor for me in preparation for this role, showing me how to conduct myself and indulge in the full breadth of opportunities to create change as the Youth Mayor. 

“We have been in the Youth Council together all the way through, so seeing Gracie’s departure from this role will be a huge loss but I know she won’t stop until her targets are met.”

Jake added at the ceremony: “I pledge to represent the voices of young people across the region in a mature, respectable and considerate manner. I’m extremely honoured by this opportunity and will do my utmost to carry out this role to the best of my ability.

“I believe the environment is essential to the development of young people and so will be using my position and working with fellow members of the Youth Council to find ways to improve this for the youth.

“Great strives have been made towards greener industry, with the Celtic freeport bringing with it many green energy contacts in the Celtic Sea. I want to spend my year encouraging the acknowledgement of these coming opportunities, showing that there are skilled careers to be had in here in NPT and not just away in the likes of Bristol or London.

“Moreover, I strongly believe in fairness and equality and as Youth Mayor, I will work closely with support groups and my peers as part of the Youth Council to strive for a more inclusive Neath Port Talbot – my main aim being to tackle growing anti-social behaviour to minority groups in schools.

“I also believe there is more work to be done to help young people in poverty. I’d like to carry this out hand in hand with my work on sustainable development. I also think there is work the Youth Council can do to help young people feel more comfortable and inclined to go to school.”