‘YOUTH PROOFING’

Youth Proofing transforms adult orientated strategies and policies into documents/ guides that young people can easily understand and relate to; helping to engage young people with service providers. Young People have youth proofed several key documents, two particular pieces of work are the Connexions 14 – 19 Learner Entitlement Document which outlines what young people 14 -19 are entitled to in education and training, and the Cleveland Police Authority 2007-8 Local Policing Plan.

Involving young people in planning the future of policing has gained national recognition for Cleveland Police Authority. The Authority invited a group of youngsters from the West Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Trust ‘Just 4 Youth’ to help in producing four versions of its Local Policing Plan—one for each of the Force areas—especially tailored to appeal to young people. Under the title ‘RU bovvered?—Coz We Are’ the reports were distributed to 38,000 youngsters between the ages of 11 and 19. Police Authority Chair, Councillor Dave McLuckie commented “The team of youngsters who helped us produce the plans did a tremendous job. They certainly looked very different than our normal style of documents but that was what it was all about—making them appealing to a younger audience and hopefully persuading them to come forward with suggestions and ideas which we can take into account when planning our services for the years ahead.”