We are Positive for Youth

The government has revealed its new youth policy, asking us all to be Positive for Youth.

Whilst the government is not making any new funding available for youth service provision at a local level, it does recognise the crucial role that voluntary youth organisations play in the positive development of a young person. Positive for Youth calls for new partnerships to be formed in local areas between businesses and voluntary youth organisations to provide more opportunities and better support to our young people. It also calls on Local Authorities to involve young people more in policy-making. 

London Youth is a vibrant network of 400 youth organisations serving 75,000 young people in communities right across the capital. We work with young people in all their brilliant diversity and help them to be the best they can be.

We know that good youth work works, helping young people become good adults.

Both our experience and scientific evidence indicate that when learning from a responsible adult, a positive peer group, a range of structured activities, taking responsibility and being part of something communal and positive, young people can develop the capabilities to be well-rounded individuals. Much of such support will be provided informally (by extended family or friends). It might also be achieved through wider services for young people (including school or vocational training) or as a by-product of a different relationship (with a teacher, sports coach or preacher). It can also be created deliberately by youth work.

Growing from our work on gangs and serious youth violence, grounded in experience and rooted in evidence, from labour market economics to neuroscience, our first published report ‘Hunch: a vision for youth in post austerity Britain’ explores how young people become good adults.

Download the full report here.

Here at London Youth we welcome Positive for Youth's holistic approach to youth service provision and improved support for young people, and we will be eagerly watching the role for voluntary youth organisations in helping these policies take shape. 

Media enquiries (including interviews and case studies) should be directed to Shivangee Patel, Communications Manager on 020 7549 8800 or at shivangee.patel@londonyouth.org.uk.