The Young Foundation was launched in the spring of 2006 following the merger of the Institute of Community Studies and the Mutual Aid Centre. It is named after Michael Young, the British sociologist and social activist who created over 60 organisations including the Open University

Open University

The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...

, Which?

Which?

Which? is a product-testing and consumer campaigning charity with a magazine, website and various other services run by Which? Ltd ....

 and Language Line.

Work Programme

The Young Foundation describes itself as a centre for social innovation

Social innovation

Social innovation refers to new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet social needs of all kinds - from working conditions and education to community development and health - and that extend and strengthen civil society....

. Its work covers a range of contemporary issues including health

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

, ageing

Ageing

Ageing or aging is the accumulation of changes in a person over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline...

, education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, communities and housing, justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

, youth leadership

Youth leadership

Youth leadership is the practice of teens exercising authority over themselves or others.Youth leadership has been eleborated upon as a theory of youth development in which young people gain skills and knowledge necessary to lead civic engagement, education reform and community organizing activities...

, and wellbeing. It works across the UK and internationally - carrying out research, influencing policy, creating new organisations and supporting others to do the same, often with imaginative uses of new technology. Chief Executive, Simon Tucker, was formerly Director of Ventures and then Managing Director at The Young Foundation.

Research and Policy Work

The Young Foundation conducts research and action research on contemporary life and changing needs. It has produced reports on teenage pregnancy, isolated older people, night working, worklessness and civility. In 2009 the Young Foundation published Sinking and Swimming, one of the most comprehensive studies of changing needs in the UK. It is also recognised as one of the world's leading authorities on social innovation methods.

Directors

1954 - 2001 : Michael Young

2001 - 2004 : Peter Hall

Peter Hall (urbanist)

Sir Peter Geoffrey Hall, FBA is an English town planner, urbanist and geographer. He is the Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at The Bartlett, University College London and President of both the Town and Country Planning Association and the Regional Studies Association.He is...

2004 - 2011 : Geoff Mulgan

Geoff Mulgan

Geoff Mulgan is Chief Executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts and Visiting Professor at University College, London, the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne...

2011 - 20xx : Simon Tucker