Emma ‘honoured’ to be shortlisted for national youth work leadership award

Bridges Project CEO Emma Scarcliffe was one of only three finalists in the Inspirational Leader category at the YouthLink Scotland’s National Youth Work Awards 2023.

The Awards celebrate youth work and the youth workers who make a difference in the lives of young people. This year’s awards ceremony and dinner was held on 21 June at DoubleTree by Hilton in Glasgow.

Emma was shortlisted together with Passion 4 Fusion’s Helene Rodger and Charis Robertson from Hot Chocolate Trust. It was Ms Rodger who clinched the award on this occasion but Emma was still incredibly pleased with being one of three finalists.

“It was an honour and a privilege as well as being a massive career highlight and incredible achievement for me,” said the Bridges Project CEO.

Emma’s nomination for the award comes at the back of a challenging time for both Bridges Project and for herself as a leader. However, during her leadership, the charity has navigated through several crises and come out at the other end stronger than ever.

The CEO took on the role following the sudden passing of her predecessor, Jim Boyle, in late 2019. Having just returned from maternity leave and still juggling childcare with work, Emma soon found herself having to steer Bridges Project through a global pandemic and the funding challenges that came with it.

Despite these challenges, Bridge Projects managed to maintain its core services – enjoying higher engagement rates than ever in newly-adapted forms to ensure young people had a lifeline throughout the pandemic.

Since then, services at Bridges Project have continued to grow and adapt, which led to a 30% increase in provision last year. As a result, the charity now has its largest ever service portfolio and is in the most stable financial position since it was established in 1984.

As well as Bridges Project’s growth under Emma’s leadership, the nomination also mentioned the CEO’s focus on staff wellbeing as why she would have deserved the award.

Nevertheless, Emma rather sees being a finalist as a recognition of the work of everyone involved with Bridges Project.

She said: “Having this accolade recognises the work of the whole organisation and therefore everyone involved who inspires me every day; our incredible staff who never give up and work above and beyond to improve the lives of so many deserving young people, our wonderfully supportive and encouraging Board of Trustees who are with us every step of the way, our admirable young people accessing support from us who impress us with their resilience and determination on a daily basis and our brilliant Young Ambassadors and Peer Mentors who selflessly work to benefit other young people and Bridges Project as a whole with their fabulous ideas and numerous additional activities and responsibilities they take on.”

Emma describes the National Youth Work Awards event in Glasgow as a ‘truly memorable night’.

“A huge thank you to YouthLink Scotland for organising such an incredible event, which really showcased the importance of youth work in Scotland and the people inspiring young people across the country. I met so many dedicated and passionate people and it was a real celebration of such a fulfilling and rewarding sector to work in,” said the CEO.

The event also made her reflect on how rewarding it can be to work in the youth work sector:

“I am so lucky to do this job for a living and to wake up every day knowing we are empowering young people to reach their full potential and lead happy and successful lives. Well, it truly is the dream job!”