The Youth Project offers extra curricular activities aimed at young people between the ages of 13 and 19 who are disadvantaged or at risk of social exclusion. The activities aim to educate, raise awareness and encourage young people to positively engage with their communities.

By engaging with ‘hard to reach’ young people we have been able to reduce the likelihood of young people’s involvement in criminal activities and other anti-social behaviour. The sessions provide harm reduction advice and information to young people in order to reduce the risk of problematic drug use. Through the various workshops we were able to educate young people and make them aware of the services that are available to them. Within these sessions we also held discussion groups and workshops on various subjects such as domestic violence, sexual health, drugs, crime, gang related issues and teenage pregnancies.

The group has produced a DVD on domestic violence and gang related crime to promote awareness about these issues within the community. The DVD was created by the young people; they wrote the scripts and acted in it. These sessions were well attended with 30-40 young people in each session. The DVD may be used as an awareness raising tool in the future.

In 2008 we worked with 107 young people.

Each week on average 20 young people attended the sessions. 19 attended specialist services such as harm reduction, drug education and gained introduction into counselling. 10 gained access to voluntary or paid sessional work. The project helps to improve community cohesion as young people from different communities and religious backgrounds are engaging with each other and promoting awareness on various issues affecting them.