Active inclusion of young people in 9 European cities

9 cities focussing on active inclusion of youth

Produced under Eurocities’ Cities for Active Inclusion (EUROCITIES-NLAO) strand of work, these latest reports illustrate why cities are prioritising support for youth employment and young people’s participation in society in times of growing youth unemployment rates. The reports document the experiences of 9 cities: Birmingham, Bologna, Brno, Copenhagen, Krakow, Lille Metropole-Roubaix, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Sofia. Each of the cities show that effective local policies and practice can help young people achieve their educational and career goals, and therefore contribute to broader local and regional economic development.

Taking action

The cities are also shown to prevent the social exclusion of young people by taking action against early school leaving, empowering young people through mobility and entrepreneurship projects, and offering employment possibilities to young people with disabilities through partnerships with the third sector.

Focus in each city

The individual city reports can be downloaded on the NLAO website and an overview of the nine studies will be made available soon. Following is a short description of the main focus in each of the 9 cities:

• Rotterdam: With a very young population profile, a key concern for the city of Rotterdam is avoiding high levels of youth unemployment, which could lead to a possible ‘lost generation’. One key instrument towards achieving these aims is the one-stop-shop Youth Desk where young people have access to all the relevant support services. The city also encourages innovative actions to prevent the social exclusion of young people, for instance by the SkillCity initiative, teaching lessons on societal engagement to primary school children. 
• Stockholm: In order to support the active inclusion of its young citizens, Stockholm is investing in education, outreach work and a one-stop shop for employment support. Within Stockholm’s local employment service, a number of promising projects are currently running with financial support of the European Social Fund, to test new methods of supporting young unemployed people into education, training or employment. The first results of the FILUR project for empowering young people already show that 70% of the participants became self-supportive after taking part in the project.
  
• Bologna: In the city of Bologna, although youth policies are not a direct local competence, there are several powerful initiatives for the active inclusion of young people. These are carried out by municipal departments in cooperation with local NGOs. Many of the projects focus on empowering young people and developing their creative capabilities and networks. The municipal Youth Project, for example, introduced an integrated network of websites by young people and for young people.
  
• Brno: The Brno report focuses particularly on the inclusion of young people with disabilities. These and Roma people constitute an important target group for active inclusion policies in the city. At regional level, the employment agency supports training opportunities and protected work places for young people with disabilities. The city wishes to better coordinate and integrate these policies at local level so as to make the most of active employment schemes.  A particular challenge is supporting Brno’s young citizens with disabilities to live an independent life once they have finished their education. The municipality works with NGOs to realise this goal, an example of which are the AGAPO job clubs and school-work transition schemes, as well as the Café Prah activities which simulate participation in the labour market.
  
• Sofia: One of the key active inclusion priorities for the municipality is offering alternative services to young people with disabilities who were previously living in large institutions. By supporting transitional housing as well as employment and training opportunities, the city wants to help young people develop their creative and professional potential. Good examples of active inclusion projects for young people with disabilities include the Knyaz Boris I Centre for vocational training, supported housing close to the family for young people with a mental disability and the annual Career day for young people with disabilities, which enables them to make direct contact with employers and enhance their chances of securing a job. 
• Birmingham: The city is implementing several projects for its younger citizens. One successful example is the Birmingham Apprenticeship Scheme. This is a partnership between the city council and local businesses to allow young people from disadvantaged areas participate in trainee placements with local firms. This helps the young people to improve their self-esteem and enhances their chances on the job market.
  
• Copenhagen: In Copenhagen, youth unemployment is a pressing issue. Together with a  record number of young people with little or no educational qualifications or work experience, graduate unemployment also rose substantially recently as a result of the economic crisis. By joining forces amongst different municipal sectoral administrations for youth employment, education as well as social services policies, the municipality is trying to provide an integrated solution to youth unemployment.
  
• Lille Métropole-Roubaix: The Roubaix area is characterised by industrial decline and relatively high youth unemployment rates. As a response, the city is investing in improving educational qualifications, work experience and soft skills by promoting on–the-job training, international experience and active citizenship. It also ensures access to the most appropriate social services for the young person’s needs. Currently, the city is helping to develop  a regional pact to improve youth employment.  With the involvement of regional, local and district level stakeholders, the new pact will look at better matching education and training with emerging labour market needs.
  
• Krakow: Krakow reports on its current youth employment and inclusion policies. While the city is an attractive studying base, the local labour market for graduates is rather stagnant, resulting in an outflow of highly qualified young people. At the same time, groups in need of active inclusion, such as children whose parents are absent due to migration, as well as hooligans are beginning to emerge. By supporting local NGOs and with support from the European Social Fund, the city is working on the active inclusion of these and other groups of young people. For example, information points and day care centres in which young people can work on their cognitive, educational, social and physical development were set up. One such centre recently opened its doors in a shopping centre where previously many young people tended to spend their time passively.