Transcript of the Prime Minister’s podcast on the topic of youth community service, 23 April 2009.
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Wherever I travel around the country I meet young people who want to make a difference to their communities, and are making a difference to their communities; inspiring young people who are leaders of change. And I also meet parents and older people who want to see young people getting involved and helping to make our communities safer, stronger and more united. I believe that every young person can make a difference and by involving all young people to become forces for good in our communities we will together build a better and more responsible Britain.
Millions of young people are already giving their time and their energy to make a difference in our communities, whether by helping in an old people’s home or tutoring younger pupils, campaigning on local issues or fundraising for global causes, organising community activities or helping deliver environmental projects.
I want everyone to have this opportunity and I want everyone to get involved. I want serving your community to become a normal part of growing up in every community because everyone has something unique to give, and a great deal to gain from doing so.
Today we are announcing a series of steps to help us realise this ambition. Starting this September we will provide extensive new support for all schools to provide service opportunities for their pupils. We will set up a series of major pilots designed to test ways of significantly increasing the proportions of young people within a given area, participating in community service. And we will launch a new programme from this September offering 20,000 16-19 year olds the opportunity to undertake full-time community service, alongside achieving relevant qualifications.
This week we set out plans for investment in our economy, and this measure is an investment in our communities. If we have learnt anything in the past few years, it is that the pursuit of narrow self-interest does not serve the public good. In fact, it positively hurts it.
From boardrooms to our classrooms we need to encourage a new era where young people learn the power of serving something other than themselves. You know, Martin Luther King died 40 years ago but one of the things he said remains with me forever - everyone can be great because everyone can serve. And I want every young person to have the opportunity to help build stronger communities in our country.
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