Youth Social Action

I have been hugely impressed by the report of the Demos think tank called " Introducing Generation Citizen", and it is a fascinating study into the values , attitudes and behaviours of today's young people. It traces the history of generational change from the post-war Baby boomers (like me) through to Generation X( those born roughly 1960-80) and Generation Y (the "Me generation", born roughly 1980-2000)  and hence to this first generation who are totally conversant with technology. The report will be on our website shortly.

The report dispels some myths, and finds for example that young people now drink less and volunteer much more than any generation preceding. It is easy to be cynical of course - this is still the age of austerity, and maybe volunteering IS a necessary pathway to work, and building UCAS points, BUT it is still socially valuable.The report also emphasises the importance of ethical values to young people and how they engage in global issues(environmental, animal welfare, energy, fairtrade) but NOT traditional party politics from which they feel alienated.

This brings me to a second point, namely the extent of what the Government calls "Youth Social Action". I will be writing more about this in the next "Young Surrey ; Strategic review I am about to start working on for publication in late April,. However it is clear that there is a sea- change in the expectations of today's young people about social action. We are now planning a major conference about this in November.

Which may seem odd as I retire at the end of August and my job as CEO of Surrey Youth Focus  will be advertised at the end of next week with a closing date of 21 March and interviews being held on 8 April. (I am not involved in this process at all), It is a GREAT job..more later.

We are progressing the Woking Youth Arts Centre social enterprise with a view to take-over from 1 April, but there is a lot of detail to sort out yet. I'm running a workshop on "Preparing for commissioning " in West Sussex next week - part of our legacy funding and obligations from WSCVYS.

The "How to " set up in self- employment workhop went well last week at the Woking Business incubation centre and we see that nationally there is a big growth in self-employment particularly amongst women.

England v.Ireland on Saturday - delighted to see that Ford is now on the England bench. Saw the best film I've seen for ages - called "Untouchable" French/subtitles - recommended - very amusing, sad and romantic in equal measure. Just started reading Dante's Inferno for the first time. Progressing new Food Bank through churches at home