Fund our young people to serve communities

The Prime Minister has said that this is the most important election in a generation, but what does the future hold for those sometimes described as a "lost generation"?

There have been many initiatives to support young people on the brink of long-term unemployment, such as Backing Young Britain and the Future Jobs Fund. But perhaps we need to think more radically.

In the US, Barack Obama has seized the opportunity to tackle key public challenges through service. The Serve America Act was billed as offering millions of Americans the opportunity to serve their country, tackling challenges in education, housing and the environment. Programmes include City Year, which brings together 18- to 25-year-olds from all backgrounds to spend a year serving the community. Every day they operate in schools as tutors, mentors and role models, helping to improve children's attendance, behaviour and performance in maths and English.

City Year is now operating across 21 US cities, and in Johannesburg, South Africa. It will launch in London this September. There's no better time to provide young people with an opportunity to change the world and develop skills. Service programmes give young people a chance to give back, while learning to work in teams, communicate effectively and become young leaders.

All the political parties have been talking about service for some time, with the Conservatives wheeling out Michael Caine in support of their National Citizen Service plans for all 16-year-olds and the Labour manifesto promising a National Youth Community Service scheme for teenagers. All tap into the need to give young people an opportunity to make an impact. But they need to be given the tools to do so.

That means supporting older young people to take part in full-time programmes of up to a year, and funding them to live while they do so. In the US, participants of AmeriCorps, the national service programme, receive a living stipend, beyond the expenses and subsistence that we are able to cover in the UK, and an education award of $5,000 (about £3,200) to go towards further education or paying off college loans.

If we were able to replicate such support here, we could galvanise an army of under-occupied young people to transform our local communities. This is not a cheap solution, but it is surely one that we cannot afford to ignore.

Sophie Livingstone is chief executive of City Year London