Engaging with disadvantaged young people through the Reading Activists programme

One of our girls is now 15 and is the St Helens rep for the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP). She was one of several young people who had been demonstrating antisocial behaviour in our central library. We managed to get this girl involved with Reading Activists, and we have seen a real change in her, a growth in confidence and a maturing. She told us that, without having got involved with Reading Activists and helping to organise events and make decisions about what happens for young people in her local library, she would never have had the confidence to apply to be our UKYP rep.