Invest in young people and reap the rewards in the future.
 This forward-thinking policy is being shaped to meet the needs of young people in Cheshire and the communities where they live.
And it has come about simply by consulting those who have a pivotal role in shaping the services best suited to local needs - local people themselves.
As part of a commitment to engage young people in local decision-making to help give them more control over their lives, Cheshire has three Youth Members of Parliament - and annual elections - to ensure the key concerns of young people are given a voice. From this young people can contribute fully to their communities.
Moves are also in progress to set up more training in basic youth work skills for local adults and young people. This is because real partnerships on the ground, in localities and neighbourhoods - created through youth work - are shown to have a positive impact on the lives of young people. They see young people as assets to their communities not as problems on the margin.
Already over 200 Council youth workers meet with young people in a variety of settings - from cafes and classrooms to youth clubs and advice shops - working with voluntary groups and on special projects to make services responsive and pro-active.
'…outreach initiatives on topics encompassing the arts, music and drama, outdoor activities, volunteer work, sport'
This includes work in schools and colleges, residential or social settings, through mobile projects and outreach initiatives on topics encompassing the arts, music and drama, outdoor activities, volunteer work, sport, international visits and environmental work. From this diverse range of activities, new skills are developed to help young people aged 13 to 19 to achieve and progress.
Youth Hubs are key features springing up in communities across the county to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ offering a wide range of services - from Cybercafés to ‘CV-building’ - to provide a springboard of opportunity for teenagers.
These complement existing youth centres in the Chester, Congleton, Crewe and Nantwich, Ellesmere Port, Macclesfield and Vale Royal areas. Outdoors, young people rise to new challenges - sometimes quite literally while climbing tricky rock faces - tackling new sporting activities and discovering, along the way, new skills and new friendships.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme - recognised worldwide for the demanding standards it sets and the huge rewards that result - has a key role to play in building up confidence levels of young people with diverse interests and demands.
As part of the push to regenerate communities and provide services shaped to local need, youth work figures significantly with other partners and programmes geared to improve quality of life.
Indeed, findings of the Quality of Life Survey 2000 - spearheaded by the Council - place crime reduction and the provision of activities for young people as the top two priorities in the public perception able to influence communities for the better.
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