Young people striving for respect and responsibility

We’ve all seen the headlines in our newspapers.

“Save us from these yobs” seems to be the desperate S.O.S we send to each other on a regular basis. We’re all too familiar with the horror stories in the press. They tell us that our country’s youth are disaffected, unhelpful, surly and out of control.

They make us marvel at their strange use of the English language, roll our eyes at their hairstyles and fashions and tut disdainfully at their loud music.  Sometimes it gets to fever pitch, and we might even cross the street when a group of them get too close for comfort. 

If you believe everything you read, hear, or view on the TV or internet, you could perhaps be forgiven for thinking we need to be saved from our own children.

It was once said, depending on who you listened to, that young people either needed to be hugged or enrolled into the national service until they could prove they could learn to be responsible custodians of our country.

Our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has now announced steps to encourage “a new era of respect and responsibility” amongst our decision makers of tomorrow.  Look, see here:  http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19106. 

Groundwork welcomes groundbreaking initiatives seeking to empower young people. In our experience, they want their voices heard.

Our work with those considered hardest to reach indicates they’re not all Vicky Pollard-esque monosyllabic mischief makers.

But, I have to wonder, is anyone actually listening to them?  Are they really as disinterested as we are led to believe? For all the stereotyping in the media, has anyone meaningfully canvassed their opinion?  Do they have a voice amonst the people who make the decisions that affect them? 

We recently held an event – YPFN Live – hosted by the BBC’s Home Editor, Mark Easton, to mark the end of our three-year ‘Young People Friendly Neighbourhoods’ (YPFN) programme.

Backed with £1 milllion funding from the Big Lottery Fund, we set out to give those we worked with under the programme the guidance and confidence to take part in their local decision making processes, 

Just over 1,500 young people signed up across England to send a message to politicians of all colours from the steets that said they didn’t want to be a label, or an imminent manifesto issue to be dealt with. 

The impact was enormous. They took it upon themselves to take responsiblity for being agents of tangible change where they lived.

They created legacies in their neighbourhoods. The success of YPFN told us that with support, our country’s youth will strive to make a difference.

We’ve got the evidence to prove it. See for yourself on our website at http://www.groundwork.org.uk/news/detail/index.asp?id=105.

Make sure you check the YouTube, Twitter and Flickr links towards the end if you’re in any doubt. The Guardian Newspaper even reported it. Follow the link to their website too. 

We took the opportunity to ask them questions up close and personal and, believe me, as you’d expect they’re thinking about the future.

They commend our Government for turning its attention to their plight but want to know what it and any future government is going to do to change the way we, as adults, perceive them.

 They’re fed up of being labelled as yobs. They want help to let it be known they have something constructive to offer. Now. 

Groundwork knows this – YPFN helped young people to ‘audit’ areas of concern to them locally. Then, they took action to address the environmental or social issues they identified by working with local authorities, housing associations and the police to organise wholescale action where it mattered to them – involving adults and young people alike – through community activities such as community clean up days or other activities that made where they lived cleaner, safer, or greener.

Every single one of them had the drive and determination to prove the doubters wrong. Adults where they lived sat up and took notice.

Not only did they have a positive impact on their environments, they changed attitudes. The naysayers, who used to see young people as a menace, now recognised them as being major players in achieving the hopes and aspirations of their community. 

It’s unfair to single one person out of 1,500. But what about Jade Marsden, 16, from Rossendale?

She joined in with her local YPFN project because she was ‘sick and tired’ of people her age being blamed for all the noise, litter and nuisance where she lived. She, and everyone else who took part in YPFN made a difference. 

They proved they’re not a bunch of kids who hang around on street corners with nothing to do. They put the hours in – even though they didn’t have to.

Now, they feel that adults listen to them more and actually take their views and opinions into consideration. Their hard work and dedication proved they will jump at the chance to do positive things in their free time. 

It seems to me a good headline will always pack a punch, but reading between the lines of a sensational story can be a more reliable way of discerning the truth. Are we as a nation getting very good at saying to our young people: “You’re bad!” Is that what’s happening?

As adults, do we sometimes find it easier to overlook their energy, innovation, creativity and passion than challenge our ready-made perceptions?

Communication is a two way process. That was summed up aptly when Groundwork applauded everyone who took part in YPFN when Mark Easton remarked that maybe there’s a missing story in the media portrayal of our youth somewhere.

For me, that story exists and it has three key words to remember:  engage, empower, employ.  Give appropriate support and allow the lifeblood of the UK’s future to flow through our country’s veins. 

Food for thought for some, maybe. But I’m not trying to cause a sensation. I’m talking ’bout a generation.