TAVISTOCK and Okehampton College students will be hosting a series of presentations this month to highlight the valuable work of young people in and around the community.
The West Devon Community Safety Conference at the Octagon Theatre at Okehampton College on Saturday, April 20 will also see the launch of a new three-year strategy for the area and many youth projects will be on display.
Nick Payne, West Devon Borough Council's lead officer for community safety, said he hoped the conference would show just how much young people contribute towards a safer and more vibrant community.
'Young people are often perceived to be the causes of crime and disorder when, in fact, they are more often than not the victims,' he said. 'The conference will focus on the very positive contribution that young people make to our communities.'
Included in the projects on display will be:
l Crimebeat — an intiative aimed at encouraging young people to develop crime prevention projects
l WestDEN's Getting There rural youth transport project — dealing with transport limitations for young people and enabling them to stay and work in their local community
l Fusion — which looks at attitudes to racism in a predominately white region
l Project Cosmic — a space-shuttle-shaped mobile community internet café teaching young people technology skills
l Treads — a vehicle crime preventative project.
The new strategy to be launched at the event has emerged from a crime and disorder audit, which included a survey of 5,000 households, a community intelligence exercise using parish information and a comprehensive analysis of reported crime in West Devon.
It outlines new targets for six action teams tackling crime issues ranging from domestic violence to burglary and drugs and has been drawn up by West Devon's Community Safety Partnership. This includes the borough council, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, Devon County Council and various support agencies.
A spokesperson for West Devon Borough Council said that in the last three years the partnership — which has been chosen as a pilot project for a central Government initiative — had seen many successes, including funding to provide a domestic violence helpline and to address drug and alcohol issues.
A large audience of professionals, voluntary sector representatives, community organisations and county, borough and parish councillors have been invited to the event, which will also include a discussion on improving the involvement of young people in local democracy.