Programme to help youth

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34031, 20 December 1975, Page 21

Programme to help youth

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. A youth involvement programme to help young people initiate imaginative programmes to meet community needs has been announced by the Minister of Recreation and Sport (Mr Highet).

The scheme had been developed under the Commonwealth Youth Programme as a result of extensive discussions with the National Youth Council, senior pupils of secondary schools and youth groups, he said. Seven thousand dollars had been allocated to the scheme and grants of up to S7OO would be given to suitable projects. Mr Highet said that to be eligible for assistance groups would have to be predominantly under the age of 25, to have demofistrated they could accept responsibility and work as a team, have clearly defined objectives and have attempted to determine to what extent their project >tnet the real needs and feelings of the group at which their programme was aimed. A factor involved in winning approval was the extent to which their programme could be implemented in other parts of the country.

A panel would be established to decide what projects should be assisted. It would consist of six members, three appointed by the National Youth Council and three from the National Liaison Committee. The latter is the group which administers the Commonwealth Youth Programme in New Zealand. Mr Highet said that the panel would be made up of people with experience of community projects and be predominantly under the age of 30. Any group whose assisted projects were considered particularly successful might win a grant to demonstrate their project in another Commonwealth country.