As the Tories marked the opening of their party Conference by threatening to take housing benefit away from under-25 year olds, Ava Patel led an under-25s choir to the House of Commons to highlight youth unemployment. The choir, named the “Youth Voice Collective”, sang M People’s Proud as they held up a banner to remind the media there are over a million young people who are not in work.
Ava and the choir of unemployed 18-24 year olds are involved in a Campaign to Combat Youth Unemployment in the UK and they are determined that young people’s voices should be heard. Ava explained that young people are ready for work: “all we ever hear is the views from employers and politicians that young people are lazy, we’re job snobs and we don’t have the skills needed for the workplace.” This convenient stereotyping does not fit the experiences of young people like Ava, a journalism graduate who has applied for hundreds of jobs. “…the amount of rejections I’ve received has made me feel completely demoralised,” she explained. “No one would tell me why I wasn’t right for the job. I felt like every door was slammed in my face.”
At least Ava’s training in journalism has given her the skills to launch this media campaign. “I am not a singer and today I was completely outside of my comfort zone – but I needed to make myself and the youth of today heard in a way that will make an impact. Every single member of my choir is a volunteer – each of whom feels equally passionate about getting youth unemployment at the top of the political agenda,” she said. Ava’s campaign is being supported by artiste Paloma Faith, who said; “I hope this encourages decision-makers to sit up and take notice of young people.”
Ava has also been supported by Channel 4’s Emmy award-winning “Battlefront” programme, which is due to return to the airwaves next month for a fourth series. The programme is produced by Raw Television and features four young campaigners who run 2012’s Battlefront’s Campaign to Combat Youth Unemployment.
About Battlefront 4 Each of the Battlefront campaigners have set up their own Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube channel, in order to keep their supporters up to date with the latest details of the campaign. Each of these feeds is embedded on the campaign’s own page at channel4.com/battlefront, so visitors will be able to see regular updates with live streaming from all three sources. channel4.com/battlefront www.twitter.com/battlefrontuk www.facebook.com/battlefrontuk
Photo: www.channel4.com/battlefront
•In October 2011, Tower Hamlets had the highest youth unemployment in London, with 10% of 16-24 year olds on Job Seekers’ Allowance. •Almost 25% of economically active 16-24 year olds in London is unemployed (compared to 20% in the rest of the country).