AN ORGANISATION which helps young people get involved in their communities is expanding into Leatherhead.
The Challenge Network was set up in 2009, with the idea of rebuilding young people's standing in their neighbourhoods by getting them to organise, finance and run a campaign.
And after a number of successful years, which has seen more than 14,000 young people across the country benefit from the summer programme, it is now hoped it can achieve similar success in Leatherhead.
"We are looking for charities that would like to highlight the great work they are doing in their communities to small groups of young people from the area," said programme associate Andy Luton.
"The young people will then undertake a fundraising day for the organisation and take part in an action day to benefit the charity and its services."
As part of the programme, which takes place in the summer, 180 young people from Leatherhead will be split into three groups of 60. They will then take part in team-building activities before spending time living in halls at the University of Surrey where they will cook and clean for themselves.
They will also be taking part in community projects – spending time in care homes where they help and get to know residents.
"Many of the young people have never been to a care home before," added Mr Luton.
"But it also gives the elderly residents the chance to see how good these young people are and how hard they are willing to work."
After this second stage, the youngsters will take on their toughest challenge.
They will be tasked to come up with a campaign around a local issue they care about, before pitching in a Dragons Den-style environment to a group of companies to get funding for their idea – which they must then implement.
Mr Luton said this Dragon Den-style scenario had been a great tool for improving the confidence of the young people involved.
"The pitch is a great opportunity for young people to present their campaign idea to a panel of local business and community leaders and hopefully local politicians also," he added.
"It gives them a platform to develop their presentation skills as well as increasing awareness of a topic that is important to them in their community."
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