Youth Act

Last (very rainy) Sunday afternoon Gary and Sarah could be found as part of the audience at The Street Weapons live debate hosted by Jon Snow. www.channel4.com/news/microsites/S/street_weapons_commission/index.html

This was an opportunity to meet with others who care deeply about the issue of gun, gang and knife related crime especially young people as so many of them are directly affected by this issue. We met young people who are taking action in their local areas to address crime on their streets and heard about the projects that are supporting them.

One interesting training project is ‘Youth Act’ from the Citizenship Foundation, the education and participation charity, for young people aged 11-18 who want to achieve political or social change in their community. One of the Youth Act groups in London is ‘Value Life’ from Gladesmore Community School in Haringey. Talking with a couple of the young people it was good to hear how the project has grown since 2003 and that now there are at least eight other schools involved in the campaign. Over the past few years the group has successfully run and organized annual marches and rallies against gun crime, each attended by over 500 people from the local community and the next one will be held on 22nd July 2008 where there will be open top buses traveling the streets of Haringey. Check out the Citizenship Foundation at http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/ for more information on Youth Act.