Those were the words of Conservative leader David Cameron when he unveiled the party's National Citizen Service (NCS) a year ago. Make no mistake: this is one of the Tory's flagship policies for young people and is likely to be a key plank of its election manifesto.
NCS would bring together 16-year-olds from all social backgrounds over a six-week period in the summer. Its aim would be to advance personal development, smoothing young people's transition to adulthood. The social mixing and active engagement of teenagers would result in stronger, more cohesive communities. So far, so good.
But at a debate hosted at the Conservative conference by CYP Now last week, it was clear NCS has much work to do to convince the youth sector of its credibility and viability (see news, p1). The concerns are twofold: how will it be resourced and what happens after the six weeks are up?
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