There is hardly a day goes by that does not see young people chastised by the media – and yet the immensely positive contribution the vast majority of young people make to their communities is simply glossed over.
This month we launched our Change the Record campaign to help change perceptions of young people, having discovered that 60 per cent of media coverage of young people was negative.
Of course there are challenges. Our recently-produced report, The
Culture of Youth Communities, reveals that almost a third (30 per cent) of young people in Scotland do not have a parent who they consider to be a role model. In addition, 62 per cent of young people claim that finding a sense of identity is a key reason for joining a gang and more than one in five (21 per cent) are looking for role models in gangs.
It is the aim of trust programmes to help young people with positive role models, helping them to develop their confidence and skills for work.
However, to put these statistics in context, only nine per cent of young people across the UK have spent time as part of a gang, three per cent "regularly" take drugs and just two per cent carry a knife.
We look forward to working with our key partners over the next few months to ensure that the positive contribution young people make to our society is both acknowledged and respected.
Geraldine Gammell
(director)
The Prince's Trust Scotland
Queen Street
Glasgow
The full article contains 258 words and appears in Southern Reporter newspaper.
