UNITY
Aim: To celebrate ethnic diversity in Hillingdon and enable young people to learn about cultural differences
Funding: £15,000 from the Department for Children, Schools and Families
Setting up a project that's attractive to young people from 80 different ethnic groups is a tall order. But that is precisely what a team of young people from the London Borough of Hillingdon plan to do.
A team of 10 young people from various youth groups around Hillingdon are organising two events in February to bring together young people from different backgrounds to learn about each other's cultures.
The first event will be a conference on 9 February for young people, youth workers and councillors to discuss and debate issues at the local civic centre. Awards will also be given for young people who have promoted unity in their school, college or community.
Then a week later, young people will get a chance to see fashions and taste food from around the world, as well as hear global music and watch performances at the Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge. The team will sell tickets in youth clubs and on the phone for £3.
The idea came about in April after two members of the local UK Youth Parliament were asked to go back to their borough and do something around "unity".
Area youth worker Asima Mahmood says organising the event is giving the young people a sense of achievement. "They are planning it all and developing skills such as team working, looking at budgets and negotiating with people," she says.
As well as the main team organising the events, more than 50 young people have volunteered to help run them.
Jack Taylor, the 16-year-old project leader, says this is the first time young people from different youth groups in the borough have worked together. He believes the project could help prevent some of the crime problems experienced by other London boroughs from happening in Hillingdon.
"There's no gun or knife crime in Hillingdon at the moment - if we tackle it now it will not become an issue," he says. "It's about learning how we are different from each other."
Around 100 young people will be invited to the conference and 650 people are expected at the celebratory event. Sheyi Enyoisi, 16, is managing finance and PR for the team. "Helping to organise the event has taught me if you have got a team or an idea it can go forward," he says. "It also means you can bring your own culture to the show."
Jack says he has gained a lot from the experience. "I am learning leadership skills, how to work in a team and how to organise such a big event," he says.
AMADEUS NIGHTCLUB CHILL-OUT ZONE
Aim: To provide an area at an under-18s club night where young people can get information about youth services
Funding: £3,000 from Medway Community Safety Partnership and £166 from the nightclub per session
Reaching out to large numbers of young people can be a tricky challenge for youth services. So youth workers in Medway jumped at the chance to set up an advice shop in the local Amadeus Nightclub during its under-18s night.
The idea for the chill-out area came when the youth service was approached by the police and the nightclub to promote safe clubbing and stop trouble from developing.
Now youth worker Roy Smith and three of his colleagues have set up a shop in a quieter VIP area during the club night. The area has posters and leaflets giving a range of information - from safe clubbing to sexual health - in a spot where young people can take a break from the dance floor and chat to friends.
Young clubbers can also learn about Medway Youth Service and take part in activities such as ultra-violet face painting, a tick-box questionnaire on drugs and alcohol and a discussion wall.
Smith says: "We want to encourage people to come in and take part in activities. You can't do as much talking as you can in a youth club so we try to use things that are non-verbal." But if someone does want to talk, a youth worker can take them to a quieter area.
The zone only started in September but additional dates have been booked for early 2009. Smith hopes it will continue after that.
"It's an opportunity for us to promote other things we are doing within the youth service," he says. "You rarely get that many young people in a youth club - there are thousands in a nightclub."
MY SPACE? OUR SPACE!
Aim: To give young people an opportunity to run their own environmental project
Funding: Received £500,000 for two years from Veolia Environmental Trust, youth volunteering charity V and the John Laing CharitableTrust
A conservation project in Ninfield, East Sussex, is giving young asylum seekers and excluded young people a chance to take part in positive activities.
The My Space? Our Space! scheme, which is run by conservation charity BTCV, engages young people aged 16 to 24 from excluded groups in activities such as laying new paths, revitalising a woodland glade and building a pond and wildlife hide.
Ten young people who were close to being expelled for bad behaviour, and 40 young asylum seekers were involved with clearance work at the South Woods site, Ninfield. Project officer John Bailey explains they cleared the woods of non-native species, such as rhododendrons, to help encourage native trees such as oak and hazel. He says: "They all worked really well together and doing the practical stuff really gave them confidence."
The felled trees were chipped for use as floor covering. Nothing was burned and all the materials were recycled. A pond was then built to attract wildlife, and wildflowers and other plants were introduced to improve the habitat. A hide was also constructed so young people could come in and view the wildlife without disturbing it.
Lisa Cowley, national programme manager for My Space? Our Space!, says: "A lot of what we do is building social and team-working skills, which are often missing with young people."
HACKNEY YOUTH PARLIAMENT TRIP TO THE US
Aim: Give young people an understanding of another political system and what motivates young people to be politically active
Funding: The young people secured £20,000 from the youth opportunity fund for the trip.
Not many young people in the UK can claim to have seen the first black US president in the flesh but seven lucky teenagers from Hackney were given the opportunity to see him speak live during a trip to the States.
The young people were chosen from 22 members of the Hackney Youth Parliament on the strength of their performance during the hustings for their elections in October. Then in November they were taken to Washington DC for 10 days and got involved in volunteer campaigning for both the Republicans and Democrats. They went to rallies, waited 10 hours to see Barack Obama speak, and visited monuments such as the White House, the Capitol Building, and Arlington National Cemetery.
They also made a documentary about their experiences. Hackney youth participation manager Michael Connors says: "It was an opportunity to see democracy in action. We felt it was a good way to get young people involved in campaigning and make a film that could be used as a recruiting tool for the Youth Parliament."
It is hoped the documentary will be used in schools and youth groups. Connors adds the young people, who were all between 13 and 18, were under pressure to get the film done in 10 days.
Some of the experiences had a profound effect on the young people. "One young man was a bit sceptical about politics," says Connors. "But when Obama won he said: 'As a young black man, I can be anything I want to be'."
The trip forms part of a wider initiative to increase young people's interest in politics in the borough. Last year, it decided to set up the Hackney Youth Parliament and advertised it through young people's websites and information sent to schools and youth clubs. Its members come from youth forums set up in four areas of the borough: Stoke Newington, Homerton, Shoreditch and north east Hackney.
"Hopefully the parliament will empower young people," says Connors. "Every young person has a right to have a voice on decisions that make an impact on their life."
Connors says that after the US trip the parliament members are now ready to ask difficult questions on any controversial matter.
One of the young people who went, Patrice Redman-Pinard, 16, says: "It was amazing to go to the US - we got to see history in the making. It's something that will stick in my mind as long as I live."
