Youth Engagement

Leap and it's partners have also started to collect the thoughts and feelings from young people we work with.

What has Leap been up to?

On the 1st September, Leap held a youth consultation event: After the Violence…What happens NOW? Twenty-four young people, many with first hand experience of disturbances in their own neighbourhoods scrutinised, critiqued and added to the programme outlines that were developed by the consortium on 23rd August.

What are other organisations doing?

• NCVYS has launched an e-campaign to demonstrate the positive face of young people and show that they are part of the solution as the country deals with the aftermath of the violence. Young people have been sending in their photos which have been added to a Facebook gallery. Photos can be sent to mail@ncvys.org.uk, added to the Facebook page directly or tweeted with the hashtag #notinmyname.

• The 99% campaign have opinion pieces by young people about the riots in the news section of their website. They welcome further contributions.

• A group of young people are holding a peaceful sit-in on Sunday 4th September at Trafalgar Square, to show London, the media and the rest of the world a positive image of the youth today and that their voices need to be heard in a pro-active way.

• The British Youth Council want young people to tell the Prime Minister what they think caused the riots, and what should happen now.

What young people have told us

“I often stay in Streatham with my dad and when the riots happened some of the shops were damaged with smashed windows. I feel very disappointed to see the damage to the shops in Streatham and how people could do this to such a vibrant area. During and shortly after the riots, more older people have become wary of me but not only me but also I have noticed to other young people. The media has kept mentioning that it is teenagers in London doing all the damage. But it wasn’t only them, there were respectable grown adults participating in on the riots. I think that the minority of teenagers were participating in the riots and this has had a negative view on the majority of teenagers from the media.” - Yvonne

Please do email us any of your thoughts and feelings about the riots.

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