Youth social action brings communities together, study finds

The findings by Ipsos Mori come from a survey of more than 1,000 "beneficiaries" of youth social action activities performed by 40 uniformed youth group units.
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?Three quarters of adult beneficiaries surveyed considered the social action they experienced to be "very worthwhile", and eight in 10 said they felt more proud of their local area as a result of the social action activities being carried out by young people. ??

In addition, nine out of 10 beneficiaries said they spoke to the young people who were carrying out the social action activities, and 77 per cent said they had a more positive impression of what young people contribute to their local communities as a result. ??

"The findings suggest that social action can help beneficiaries to meet new people they would not otherwise have met," the report states.

?"The great majority of beneficiaries surveyed were positive about the impact of youth social action."

??The research also shows that youth social action can have a knock-on benefit to participation levels - the more young people that beneficiaries interacted with, the more likely they were to volunteer themselves.

??More than three quarters who spoke with six or more young people said they were more likely to volunteer, falling to 42 per cent who did not speak to any young people.

The findings come in an evaluation on the Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund, which was created to support the Step Up to Serve #IWill Campaign and run by the Youth United Foundation network between May 2014 and March 2016 through a £10m government fund.
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?It aimed to increase the number of social action opportunities available through funding 14 social action-orientated uniformed organisations to open new local groups and create sustainable places for young people. ??

"The evaluation shows that, in most cases, social action led to interactions between adult beneficiaries and the young people carrying out these activities, and that in most cases beneficiaries reported this contact had improved their opinion of what young people contribute to local communities," the report concluded.

??A separate fund was also devolved to the Youth United Foundation in October 2014 as part of the government funding to pilot ways of engaging the most hard-to-reach young people.

An Ipsos Mori evaluation of this found membership of social action-orientated uniformed youth organisations can be accessible and appealing to a wide spectrum of children and young people including ethnic minority groups and disabled children.

It also found that those who took part developed strong partnerships with external agencies to help design and deliver the pilots but there were challenges in working with schools and recruiting volunteers.?