What would you do with £3 Million? Well that’s the question hundreds of youths now have the opportunity to answer with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport announcing that this would be the lump sum donated to young people on The Youth Mentoring Programme.
The very generous donation was announced at a youth mentoring celebration held in conjunction with The Media Trust, Youth Music, Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust.
The scheme will offer one-to-one and group mentoring for young people whom most need it. Mentors can play a significant part in a young person’s life, acting as role models who can offer professional advice and insight into the worlds of sport, music and media.
The event held this summer was hosted by DJ Spoony. The presenter opened the day with his usual wit and underlined the importance of such schemes that were bettering young peoples lives.
The former Radio 1 and Kiss 100 presenter handed over to the Minister for Sport & Tourism, Gerry Sutcliffe. The Minister announced the multi-million investment, receiving huge applause, especially from the many young people within the audience who the funding would potentially benefit.
“No matter how old, or young, everyone in life needs that extra push,” Gerry Sutcliffe emphasised. The rest of the day followed with living examples of just what could be achieved with “that extra push.”
The audience were treated to a very powerful video made by Amienata Sillah, 19, a young filmmaker who with the help of a mentor was able to produce an award-winning 5-minute short on the impact of knife crime in London. The film featured interviews with victims of knife crime and caused silence and reflection as Amienata revealed that the video had been inspired by the murder of 15-year-old Kiyan Prince. Amienata, went to the same school as Kiyan, and described the negative impact the murder had on her life. When the film ended, Amienata received a standing ovation from the audience.
I was able to catch up with Amienata after her presentation to ask her how having a mentor was useful to her: “My mentor was supplied to me by Channel 4. She was a great help. She told me what to do, where not to do it, and so on. For example, if I filmed in a building, I would have to get permission from the people who owned the building. She was brilliant, helping with all the paperwork and making sure I got it done before it was too late. She was really good, and has influenced me to mentor others who wish to do the same type of thing.”
18-year-old Razor from Nottingham, who has graduated from the position of mentee to mentor is also highly supportive of mentoring schemes: “I started out being mentored. When my scheme had completed Katie (one of the mentors) asked if there were any volunteers, and I had already participated in a similar scheme before, I thought yeah defiantly.”
Razor maintains that mentoring has helped her as a person to understand people a lot better: “Sometimes there’ll be a situation where I’d think something and my mentee would say something very different. It’s helped me to understand how they (the mentees) think, in contrast to how I think.” Razor went on to say that: “Mentoring gives others a chance to see there are two sides to every story.” This exciting scheme has come at a time when young people are in need of more positive role models.
About this article
This story was written by Orrel Lawrence, 19. 