Sarah Ferguson Calls for Amplifying Gen Z Voices in New Role: 'They Have the Solutions' (Exclusive)

The Duchess of York opens up to PEOPLE about her new role as Founding Ambassador of the Youth Impact Council

Sarah Ferguson is putting her passion into action in a future-focused new role with young people.

During her September visit to New York City for New York Climate Week, the Duchess of York announced the launch of the Youth Impact Council and her involvement in it. The new nonprofit organization was founded to amplify the voices of youth activists making an impact in climate action, social justice and innovation, bridging the intergenerational gap by connecting them with established leaders to cut through the tape and accelerate change.

The Duchess, who is popularly known as Fergie, is the Founding Ambassador for the Youth Impact Council (YIC), and exclusively tells PEOPLE that what excites her most about the initiative is the potential it presents.

"There are young people at work who aren’t being listened to enough by people who can make change for them. And so I think we need to amplify their voices and execute their wishes," Fergie tells PEOPLE. "They have the solutions — if only grown-ups would ask them, ask Gen Z, for the solutions they have in these youth leadership positions."

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YIC was founded at Climate Week 2024 and celebrated its inaugural initiative in New York City with a ceremony honoring a select cohort of inaugural members, with later plans to expand its membership worldwide. The Duchess has been a passionate advocate for young people over three decades of her philanthropic work, and likens it to a "university of life" to learn from the next generation — including her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

"It's almost, this is the university of life for me to be learning from young people that are actually out there doing the work. It’s like Beatrice and Eugenie are out there doing the work. Eugenie does a lot with The Anti-Slavery Collective, Beatrice does an enormous amount in technology and with dyslexia and really believes in humanity in the workplace, with compassion," she says about some of the causes her adult daughters champion.

"I believe that all those values, I was able to help guide them into this place they are, is what I’m going to bring to the youth leaders of Gen Z," adds the Duchess, who is a proud grandmother to Beatrice and Eugenie's young children.

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"One example would be on [each of] their 18th birthdays I took them to a teenage cancer unit and I walked them around and showed them what it is to hold the hand of a young teenager who’s dying of cancer and to be able to know what it’s like and to talk to people who are very unwell and give hope," she says. "I think that value system of giving back has always stayed with them. They’re the best examples of their values and the traditional cultures that I’m bringing to youth leaders now."

The idea for YIC came about at New York Climate Week 2023, when it struck entrepreneur and youth advocate Anna-Grace Millward that young people aren't usually in the room when key decisions are made. Speaking to PEOPLE about the new venture, council founder and co-chair Millward shared what it means to have the Duchess of York's support in this mission.

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"It means everything. She is offering her networks, her platform and her resources to accelerate the work of these young leaders to really be by their side on the ground. I think that that means so much because, for us, it really shows that intergenerational dialogue is possible," Millward tells PEOPLE. 

Of the importance of the YIC, Ferguson adds, "We collectively thought this was an extraordinary idea. I really want to say that it’s almost my legacy, and I love that. It’s a very big moment to start Youth Impact Council and it’s in my heart and it’s authentic to what I believe. I really love being with young people because they feed me, they feed my soul. They are fun, and it keeps you young!"

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