New 'Lost Generation' could Cost NI £400m a Year
style="text-align: justify;">Ten percent of all 16-24 year olds registered as unemployed in Northern Ireland are at the thin end of the social wedge because they have fallen through the net of education, training and employment. They are the new lost generation which could cost taxpayers here more than £400 million a year if the correct intervention is not made to prevent many of those at risk from falling into drug and alcohol abuse or crime.
Nearly 200 young men and women from all over Northern Ireland have been given a unique opportunity to improve their lives by participating in the award winning GRIT experience, and the success of the programme is being show cased today at a special event hosted by DSD Minister Alex Atwood at Stormont.
Supported by the International Fund for Ireland and the Department of Social Development, the GRIT Programme is delivered by the Gerry Rogan Initiative Trust in cooperation with Opportunity Youth.
Organisers are calling on the Executive to look at this project as a cost effective and innovative way to help our most disadvantaged and young people make a positive contribution to our society.
Therese Rogan, Chairman of the GRIT Board is adamant that this innovative programme demonstrates significant value for money at a time when public resources are scarce.
“We are not asking government to spend more money, quite the opposite. We are challenging all our political representatives to recognise that if this intervention were adopted within existing training programmes money can be saved for the whole economy in the long term”.
Results are impressive with 13 programmes to date providing this life changing experience. Each programme was oversubscribed and had a 100% completion rate. GRIT has exceeded all expectations with 9 out of 10 participants remaining in training following their experience.
Denis Rooney, Chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, which has been the main funder of the GRIT Programme from its inception, with co funding from Department for Social Development, is fully supportive of the impact achieved by the initiative to date. “The resounding success of the GRIT Programme is testament to the importance of supporting work that ensures the most marginalised of our young people are given opportunities to fulfil their potential and share their hopes for the future with young people from different cultural backgrounds.”
On the GRIT programme the participants are challenged physically, emotionally and socially, and are also encouraged and nurtured to believe in themselves and their ability to make better life choices. They are shown how to respect themselves and others by demonstrating how they are each responsible for their own life choices and are given an opportunity to achieve for their personal goals.
Therese Rogan continues, “Recent statistics show that youth unemployment here costs up to £4.5m a week while it costs £95,000 a year to keep a young adult in prison and we are spending £680 million a year as a consequence of alcohol misuse. Much of which could be saved if we could reach young people earlier.
“As a compassionate society we cannot continue to allow whole generations of young people to become unemployable. If we want our economy to grow we cannot afford to allow this human and monetary waste to happen. This problem affects every area of government spending across the Executive and we know it does not have to be this way.
“We believe that it is important to showcase the achievements of these young people right now because they will potentially suffer most in cut backs. Critically the Executive is about to finalise a new Budget and priorities for a Programme for Government. This is set against a background of the need to work smarter for less and we aim to show that our intervention works and most importantly can save valuable resources for the Executive and the taxpayer”
Alex Attwood, Minister for Social Development, who also contributes to the funding of the programme, will be hosting today’s event. He said:
'I welcome the opportunity to hear again, at first hand the impact this innovative programme has had on its participants. The GRIT initiative gives young people at risk of falling out of training the opportunity to realise their potential within society.
In my short time as Minister, GRIT and other youth initiatives have proven successful and deserve praise and support'
Anne-Marie McClure, the Chief Executive of Opportunity Youth, commissioned to provide the GRIT Experience, believes that ‘More often than not, the young people supported by GRIT are the ones who fall between the cracks of the very systems that were designed to help and protect them. These young people represent those who are most often, for whatever reason, unable to participate in education, training or employment. GRIT offers each young person the opportunity to re-engage, to use the learning from past experiences and to believe that the most exceptional resource of all is themselves. The award winning approach used is totally person-centred and enjoys a 100% completion rate’.
Nearly 200 young men and women from all over Northern Ireland have been given a unique opportunity to improve their lives by participating in the award winning GRIT experience, and the success of the programme is being show cased today at a special event hosted by DSD Minister Alex Atwood at Stormont.
Supported by the International Fund for Ireland and the Department of Social Development, the GRIT Programme is delivered by the Gerry Rogan Initiative Trust in cooperation with Opportunity Youth.
Organisers are calling on the Executive to look at this project as a cost effective and innovative way to help our most disadvantaged and young people make a positive contribution to our society.
Therese Rogan, Chairman of the GRIT Board is adamant that this innovative programme demonstrates significant value for money at a time when public resources are scarce.
“We are not asking government to spend more money, quite the opposite. We are challenging all our political representatives to recognise that if this intervention were adopted within existing training programmes money can be saved for the whole economy in the long term”.
Results are impressive with 13 programmes to date providing this life changing experience. Each programme was oversubscribed and had a 100% completion rate. GRIT has exceeded all expectations with 9 out of 10 participants remaining in training following their experience.
Denis Rooney, Chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, which has been the main funder of the GRIT Programme from its inception, with co funding from Department for Social Development, is fully supportive of the impact achieved by the initiative to date. “The resounding success of the GRIT Programme is testament to the importance of supporting work that ensures the most marginalised of our young people are given opportunities to fulfil their potential and share their hopes for the future with young people from different cultural backgrounds.”
On the GRIT programme the participants are challenged physically, emotionally and socially, and are also encouraged and nurtured to believe in themselves and their ability to make better life choices. They are shown how to respect themselves and others by demonstrating how they are each responsible for their own life choices and are given an opportunity to achieve for their personal goals.
Therese Rogan continues, “Recent statistics show that youth unemployment here costs up to £4.5m a week while it costs £95,000 a year to keep a young adult in prison and we are spending £680 million a year as a consequence of alcohol misuse. Much of which could be saved if we could reach young people earlier.
“As a compassionate society we cannot continue to allow whole generations of young people to become unemployable. If we want our economy to grow we cannot afford to allow this human and monetary waste to happen. This problem affects every area of government spending across the Executive and we know it does not have to be this way.
“We believe that it is important to showcase the achievements of these young people right now because they will potentially suffer most in cut backs. Critically the Executive is about to finalise a new Budget and priorities for a Programme for Government. This is set against a background of the need to work smarter for less and we aim to show that our intervention works and most importantly can save valuable resources for the Executive and the taxpayer”
Alex Attwood, Minister for Social Development, who also contributes to the funding of the programme, will be hosting today’s event. He said:
'I welcome the opportunity to hear again, at first hand the impact this innovative programme has had on its participants. The GRIT initiative gives young people at risk of falling out of training the opportunity to realise their potential within society.
In my short time as Minister, GRIT and other youth initiatives have proven successful and deserve praise and support'
Anne-Marie McClure, the Chief Executive of Opportunity Youth, commissioned to provide the GRIT Experience, believes that ‘More often than not, the young people supported by GRIT are the ones who fall between the cracks of the very systems that were designed to help and protect them. These young people represent those who are most often, for whatever reason, unable to participate in education, training or employment. GRIT offers each young person the opportunity to re-engage, to use the learning from past experiences and to believe that the most exceptional resource of all is themselves. The award winning approach used is totally person-centred and enjoys a 100% completion rate’.
