The two-year Beacon Positive Youth Engagement Peer Support Programme funded councils to provide volunteering opportunities for young people who were from minority ethnic groups, had disabilities, were looked-after or were not in training, education or employment.
The programme - which was run at Derwentside, Gateshead, Wirral, Wakefield, Lancashire, Norfolk, West Sussex and Lewisham councils - had "important lessons to teach councils on how to engage socially excluded youngsters in their own communities", according to De Montfort University, which evaluated the project.
Under the programme - which was funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Office of the Third Sector - the volunteers worked with key workers from their local council and offered their catering, administrative and social skills to public services like schools, parks, sports, leisure and arts centres.
De Montfort University concluded that the programme "maximised the opportunities to involve young people in shaping local services and becoming active citizens in local democracy".
The evaluation also found that the programme led to: gains in confidence, improved social skills, experience for CVs, the acquisition of technical skills and wider knowledge of local services and provision.
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