Written by Ben Tallon
According to the Department For Education figures, 70% of youth services funding has been cut since 2010, since the Conservatives came to power. Violent crime is a regular feature on the news, young deaths seemingly a daily headline.
Kerry O'Brien joins me to discuss the incredible and essential work of Young Urban Arts Foundation, the charity she founded who provide workshops and programs to empower young people to express themselves and develop their talents through creativity. Her own story of adversity and resolve is powerful and we get into why artistic expression is so important for the fundamental needs of every young person on earth, to avoid mental health catastrophes.
When an education system is ill equipped to cater for individuality, teachers are left with no choice but to be more stressed about Ofsted visits than the needs of their pupils, police forces whittled down to the bare bones, able only to focus on the end results and not the community and root causes of violent crime, then the support of society and organisations like YUAF becomes the difference between a frightening future and one of hope and positive change.
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