DON'T WRITE ME OFF: hoodies, cookies and convo's

Between 06 December 2008 and 06 December 2008, in Manchester

19 young people took to Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens on Saturday to help dispel the negative stereotypes that surround the youths of today.  They dressed in dark hoodies and approached members of the public with their hoods up to gage reactions.  Many responses showed that ‘hoodies' are often a symbol for bad behaviour and cause people to worry and feel intimidated.  However, after spending the time with some of the young people down there, many left with the ‘other side' of the story.

            These conversations earned people a fortune cookie, which contained key quotes from CSV's national research among young people.  These tackled real issues of what young people themselves thought should be done and what was needed. (you can see the press release for examples).

            Overall, the day was deemed a success by those that took part - the young people enjoyed learning about the general public's opinion first hand and putting a positive stamp on it with their actions that day.

            The opinions/research collected will be used to plan future action for young people - further events/projects can be set up to tackle the issues that they raised.  For example, one person said they thought intergenerational projects may help change the negative images surrounding young people, because that way, there is interaction between two groups that possibly misunderstand each other.  The day worked both ways because there were plenty of people who turned round and gave good feedback, saying they didn't believe young people were all bad and that what the volunteers were doing out there on Saturday proved it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2008/12/08/081208_hoodie_event_feature.shtml

Posted on 06 November 2008 13:17:25 by Becky Taplin