Many young people in West Cornwall are now looking forward to a much brighter future. with higher self-esteem, greater self-confidence and improved employability.

This is one of the main conclusions from an independent final evaluation of Engage Young People, a programme of project funding aimed at reducing social exclusion and improving the lives of the target group, aged between 14 and 25, in our most deprived areas.

Over five years, ending in March 2004, Engage West Cornwall distributed over £2 million of SRB5 (Single Regeneration Budget) funding - from the South West Regional Development Agency - to 23 projects.  Together with match funding from other sources, this meant that over £4.2 million was spent on helping young people in Kerrier, Penwith and the Penwerris Ward of Falmouth.

The wide and varied range of projects included advice centres, training and educational initiatives, youth forums and other opportunities for community involvement, youth outreach schemes, recreational facilities, a youth radio station and theatrical work.

The comprehensive evaluation, carried out by specialist consultancy SBD Associates, found that the young people now felt more confident and empowered;  they had learned new skills, especially in terms of communication;  they could now work in teams;  they had gained qualifications and certificates;  and they were better able to make informed decisions, particularly concerning the consequences of their actions.

Ken Martin, who wrote the evaluation report, says:  "This was a very hard programme to carry out.  It involved reaching out to individuals on the margins of society - many of whom probably didn't want to be reached.  Everyone involved deserves great credit for the way they went about it."

He praised the creation of the Engage Partnership, made up of 17 local organisations, which had been able to take on the running of the programme and had continued to support many other community projects through a further round of funding (SRB6).  He felt that the impact of the co-ordinated programme had been much stronger than if each of the projects had been carried out independently.  He also stressed that the programme had built up the area's capacity for youth work and brought young people's issues into the mainstream.

One of the main purposes of the evaluation was to discover whether the programme's objectives had been met and the desired impacts had been achieved, so that others could benefit from lessons learned.  It concluded that the programme compared well with others whose aims were similar.

Like most programmes, Engage Young People had missed a few of its targets - but the most important ones had been met.  Some of the objectives proved too difficult and were changed part of the way through.  However, the consultants were impressed by the fact that the partnership had learned from its experience and altered its ways of operating where necessary.

"It's not as easy to measure the value of a programme like this as it is for, say, an economic development programme," said Mr Martin  "How can you measure the value of turning someone away from drugs or a life of crime, for example?  What our research and interviews have shown is that Engage Young People has had the desired effect and that this area would have been the poorer without it."

Click on the address below to see the evaluation report:  http://www.engagewestcornwall.co.uk/uploads/SRB5-Final-evaluation-and-forward-strategy.pdf
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