A CHARITY initially formed to address youth crime, reduce accidents and discourage antisocial behaviour is appealing for support for its valuable sessions for young people.
The Youth Motor Project badly needs a portable building it can use as an office, meeting room and toilet.
The current one, generously donated by a local building firm some years ago, is now falling apart and is beyond economic repair.
Project bosses say that when it rains, it resembles an indoor swimming pool and will soon be unusable.
The project also needs to replace its ageing, borrowed minibus, which will soon be pensioned off, so it can continue to take young people out and about at weekends, or it faces being without its own transportation.
Based at workshops off Glencrutchery Road, the project offers young people tuition in vehicle mechanics and advice on issues affecting them, cars and motorcycles. There are opportunities to learn to ride trials bikes and take part in motorsport events.
As well as discouraging young people from becoming involved in crime and helping to reduce accident rates through promoting road craft, the project encourages young people to have a wider sense of social responsibility.
The project – managed by Pete Hodgson and full-time youth worker Mike Buttimore – takes on young people while they are of school age but continues to work with them into their 20s.
From an intake of just seven, 12 years ago, it now runs school, multi-agency, drop-in and voluntary sessions for hundreds of young people, 46 weeks of the year.
It works with young people from all backgrounds, some of whom are referred to the project and others who join independently.
This year, for the first time, it has run sessions especially for young people not in education, employment or training (Neets), equipping them with skills ranging from socialising to CV-writing that may enable them to find positions.
Of the 16 Neets it has worked with so far, all but two have secured employment.
Attendance at sessions helped get one 16-year-old back on track. The youth left school, was jobless, had family issues and was turning to antisocial behaviour and recreational drug use.
The project helped find him work with a local garage and he attended day release at the Isle of Man College of Further and Higher Education. He still takes part in the project.
The project was set up as a charity with a grant from the Department of Education in 2000 and receives support from the DEC, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Economic Development, as well as the Manx Lottery Trust.
But with the need for a new portable building and vehicle, it hopes a generous corporate sponsor will keep it on the right road.
Ken Callister, principal youth officer with the DEC, said: ‘Young people learn important life skills through their involvement in the project’s activities and through interaction with the staff, who are experienced mentors and act as confidantes, often at a difficult time in a teenager’s life.
‘It has never been more important for young people to be ready for the challenges they face when they make that transition from school into the next phase of life.
‘All opportunities, education, employment or training, have demands and our young people need to be tooled to make the most of them.
‘The motor project does not just teach young people to recognise one end of a spanner from the other, but also builds resilience and resourcefulness,’ Ken said.
‘We hope that we can find private support for this worthwhile project and help us to replace our dilapidated portable unit and help us to obtain our own minibus.’
For more information about the project, or to assist its work, phone Pete Hodgson on 07624 460601 or email youthmotorproject@manx.net