One in ten teenagers in knife crime “hotspots” targeted by the government say they still have to carry a weapon to feel safe, a Newsbeat poll shows.

More than half of the people questioned said they are worried about other teens carrying a knife when they go out.

Fifty-three per cent surveyed said the government would not be able to reduce teen violence over the coming months.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: “It is going to take longer to change the culture of carrying knives.”

The Home Office launched its £12m Tackling Knives Action Programme in June 2008 to crack down on offending in 10 key areas.

Police have been carrying out more stop and searches and extra cash has been used to pay for airport-style security arches and community schemes for young people.

Knife survey findings

• 25% know someone who has been a victim of knife crime
• 9% say they have to carry a weapon to feel safe
• 55% say they are worried about other teenagers carrying a knife
• 44% think the police are unable to protect them from violent crime
• 30% think longer sentences for people found carrying blades would reduce knife crime
• 49% say they would not report someone they know who carried a knife or gun
• 70% say it is easy or very easy to buy a knife

The survey questioned 500 people aged 13 to 19 in five of those hotspots – London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Thames Valley.

Source: BBC Newsbeat

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth

The theme for Youth Work Week 2009 focuses on two key qualities that youth workers have always helped impart, and which young people are going to need in spades in the near future – resilience and resourcefulness.

• Being Resilient – able to bounce back from life’s disappointments and setbacks and to carry on in pursuit of your aspirations.
• Being Resourceful – possessing the ability to dig deep inside yourself and in the environment you are in to find and use resources that help you respond to life’s opportunities and risks.

The NYA invites youth work bodies to use the theme to celebrate the ways in which they help young people deal with the difficulties life can place in their way and carry on to enjoy their lives and meet their potential. Jon Boagey, NYA Director of Communications, commented: “Every year Youth Work Week is used by a wide variety of youth organisations to celebrate the work they do. Groups are free to use the week however they want, but we hope this theme may provide a focus for the distinctive contribution of youth work”.

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth

Work on the Input Youth website is still improving our position in the major search engines. And its mainly the job guides that get peoples attention.

Here are the latest additions to the guides, published over the last working week:

• Dispensing Optician
• Educational Psychologist
• Healthcare Assistant
• Optical Technician
• Orthoptist
• Psychoanalyst

The most searched for job-guides at the moment are for a Computer Games Designer, a Nurse and an Oil Drilling Roustabout/Roughneck.

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth

Other site projects have meant that the preparation of job guides has slowed down over the last week or so, but here are a few that have been prepared.

• Clinical Psychologist
• Medical Pathologist
• Psychiatrist
• Psychologist
• Sports and Excercise Scientist
• Veterinary Pathologist

The most searched for job-guides at the moment are for a Computer Games Designer, a Financial Adviser and a Nurse.

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth