Youth sets the conditions for the Youth Correspondents program for the 2026-2027 academic year

The General Directorate of Youth of the Regional Government of Castilla y León has established the conditions for participation and operation of the “Youth Correspondents of Castilla y León” program for the 2026-2027 academic year. The resolution, signed on September 23, 2026, by the general director Pablo Lázaro Campuzano, is published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León number 188, dated September 28, 2026. The program is aimed at young people between 14 and 30 years old from secondary schools, vocational training centers, and universities within the Community.

The regulation is based on Article 28 of Law 11/2002, of July 10, on Youth of Castilla y León, and Article 21.4 of Decree 117/2003, which mandates the regional Administration to disseminate youth information in secondary education centers. The resolution is issued by virtue of Article 40 of Law 3/2001, of July 3, and Decree 13/2026, of June 29, regarding the organic structure of the Department of Deregulation, Family, and Social Aid.

The program began by Resolution of March 15, 2018, from the Youth Institute of Castilla y León, and since 2022, it has also admitted university students. The Department of Deregulation, Family, and Social Aid works in collaboration with the Department of Education and with the universities of the Community that choose to join.

Recipients and conditions for participation

The program is aimed at young people between 14 and 30 years old, preferably students in the fourth year of compulsory secondary education, baccalaureate, vocational training, and university students enrolled in universities in Castilla y León. Those who were part of the program in the 2025/2026 academic year may continue provided they do not exceed the established maximum age limit.

• Volunteer correspondents from non-university centers: must be enrolled in the center and studying fourth-year ESO, baccalaureate, or a vocational training cycle, with an age limit of 25 years.
• Minors: informed consent signed by the minor and by their parents or legal guardians, in addition to the commitment to the tasks to be performed.
• Volunteer teachers: must be teaching at a center where youth correspondents are enrolled.
• University correspondents: age limit of 30 years; universities that are not part of the program may join by adapting to its operation.

Content and training

Correspondents will periodically receive youth information provided by the General Directorate of Youth to disseminate among their peers. The content covers calls for scholarships and grants, youth volunteering activities, courses from the youth training school, artistic and cultural training, languages, educational and job offers, resources and addresses of interest, youth hostels, and leisure and free-time activities. They may also collect information from their own center or from outside the educational sphere.

Complementary training will focus on communication, leadership, coaching, social skills, and youth participation, as well as the proper use of social networks. The initiative is designed as a youth volunteering program oriented toward the acquisition of personal competencies recognized by the General Directorate of Youth.

Obligations and recognitions

The General Directorate of Youth assumes the general coordination of the program, the periodic sending of information, the offering of training activities, the organization of meetings, and the certification of the activity performed. Correspondents must implement the program in their center, disseminate the information received, forward unresolved queries, participate in training sessions, and make proper use of social networks and messaging groups.

• Certification of the work performed and the time dedicated, as a volunteering activity, issued by the General Directorate of Youth.
• Preferential access to activities of the General Directorate of Youth.
• Free European Youth Card of Castilla y León during the academic year in which they are part of the program.
• Adhering universities may establish other forms of recognition in accordance with their own regulations.

Institutional collaboration and appeal period

The Department of Deregulation, Family and Social Aid, through the General Directorate of Youth, and the Department of Education, through the management centers competent in educational innovation and the universities, will collaborate in the development of the program.

Against the resolution, which does not end the administrative route, an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the Vice-Department of Family and Social Aid within one month starting from the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León.

The resolution ensures the continuity and expansion of a network of youth informants that delivers scholarships, training offers, and leisure resources directly to students. For secondary schools and universities, it provides a stable volunteering framework throughout the academic year, with certification of work and free access to the European Youth Card as incentives for participants.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla y León, no. 188, of September 28, 2026, I. Community of Castilla y León, D. Other Provisions, pages 50-53 (official reference: BOCYL-D-28092026-188-18).