5 steps to ... engaging with Neets

Kate Allen, Regeneration & Renewal, 3 October 2008

2. Take your work to them. "Community venues often feel safer for young people than local authority offices or other official settings," says Tanner. "If they are familiar with the site, they are more likely to attend your event. They will also often be suspicious of adults who haven't worked with them before, but people skilled in youth work and already working in the community can have great success with them."

3. Demonstrate what's in it for them. As a way of engaging young people in project design and management, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council awarded panels of young people small amounts of funding to allocate to community projects. "The young members of these grant-giving panels have become more aware of the issues that surround decision-making of this kind," says Suzanne Gahlings, the young people's service team manager at Wakefield council.

4. Offer Neets various ways to communicate. "Use lots of different consultation methods in any one event: one-to-one opportunities, group discussions, written responses, online approaches and mobile text responses," says Tanner.

5. Prove that getting involved is worthwhile. "The last thing young people want is a talking shop," says Gahlings. "We try to ensure tangible outcomes wherever possible, and if there are none, we give feedback to tell them the reasons that is the case."

- More information Research As Evidence has produced a toolkit on working with Neets, available at www.london.gov.uk/mayor/children/docs/neet-toolkit.pdf; Survey Monkey (www.survey monkey.com) provides a cheap and easy way to collect responses from young people.