This project- ‘Not’ the Usual Suspects aims to involve the young people who are under-represented in traditional forums in structured dialogue with politicians from the five tiers of decision making. These tiers include local politics (Community and Town Councillors), City and County politics (County Councillors), regional politics (Welsh Assembly Members - AM’s), UK politics (Members of Parliament – MP’s) and European politics (Members of the European Parliament – MEP’s). Through learning about the different levels of decision making the group will then aim to educate others about their learning through modern strategies such as social media and peer led forums. The project will link with digital democracy and consider how young people are involved in the political process. The project has been discussed by young people and at the time of submitting politics is a hot topic especially with the recent referendum in Scotland and the current elections taking place at Westminster. During the course of this project the National Assembly for Wales elections will take place (May 2016) as well as the consultation by Welsh Assembly Government on lowering the voting age to 16. The project has four key objectives: * Engage young people into the political processes that affect their lives * Create an awareness about the political processes and how the voice of young people should and could be heard * Produce a campaign using latest technologies to encourage young people to exercise their right to vote * Create a Manifesto of young peoples views produced by young people and sent to politicians at all levels The project will involve a core group of 30 young people who are from some of the most disadvantaged communities of South wales. These young people are from areas where youth unemployment is high and young people face uncertain futures with a lack of opportunity. These young people face social deprivation, financial constraints and low self esteem. Furthermore they are having fewer opportunities due to cuts to local services. This project will enable some of these barriers to be overcome. The communities in which the young people live are disengaged with politics and voter turnout is lower than the average. This turnout is considerably lower for young people aged 16-24 with less than 50% voting (House of Commons 2013) This project will take place over 6 activity sessions however the young people will take responsibility for the project and undertake tasks in between each residential activity. Each Activity will have a key theme and key area of discussion. The activity will also involve guests from the 5 tiers of politics. We have been grateful to be supported by politicians from all 5 tiers (local Councillors, County Councillors, Assembly Members, Members of Parliament and Members of the European Parliament) as well as the former Children's Commissioner who champions Children's rights and in particular the right to be heard by decision makers. This project will be led by a trainee youth worker (Abbey wells), young person (Georgia Vassallo) and a senior youth worker (Jonathan Price). The project will use youth work methods and will ensure that all young people within the group are active and equal contributors and that their voice is heard. The activity will be workshop based and will be undertaken in an environment which young people will feel comfortable. Some aspects of the project will involve presentations as well as interviews. A basic introduction session to interviewing will form part of the initial training so that young people feel comfortable in interviewing the politicians. The results / outcomes that we will achieve include: * 30 young people engaged in political process and developed new skills in the project (Self Confidence, team building, communication skills) * 300 young people having a greater awareness of the political processes * Survey data from 300 Questionnaires of political understanding of young people aged 14-19 * Social Media Campaign with 1000 twitter followers and 1000 facebook likes in one year. * Create a Manifesto of young peoples views produced by young people and sent to politicians at all levels * Young Person organised ‘hustings’ event prior to National Assembly for Wales elections. The project will be independently evaluated by an external organisation We believe this project will have a significant impact on the young participants but also a wider impact on the young people within the Boys and Girls Clubs as well as those in the community. It is envisaged that this project will change the mindset of political processes amongst young people but also ensure that politicians are aware of young people and how they should be involved in the political process. We feel that this benefit will last and long term changes will be seen in clubs through the introduction of more opportunities for young people to have a voice.