The Divert Project has been developed through Youthfirst and Dove House as a community based response to some of the problems, which are occurring in the Bogside and Brandywell areas. We believe that the participants on this project will be well served by a programme, which will address their need for activity, and also address their need for social skills enhancement, as they are only a few steps away from making decisions, which will affect their future. This project will provide the opportunity for young people from these areas to actively seek to address their attitudes and beliefs as regards drugs, alcohol, substance abuse, crime and, how they view their responsibilities and involvement within the community. The Divert Project has been establishing links with other organisations in both the statutory and voluntary sectors, so that we can assist and learn from each other.

These are the main aims of the project:

• To provide the young people of the Bogside and Brandywell with the self confidence to move away from misusing alcohol, drugs, substances, and from becoming involved in petty crime on the streets.

• To provide the most disadvantaged young people from within this area with the opportunity to return to school, or better prospect of finding or holding down a job.

• To provide young people with the skills and knowledge to deal with the ever growing temptation of drugs, alcohol and substances.

• To build relationships between the youth and adults of the community that will enhance a better understanding of the problems faced by both young and old.

• To build partnerships with statutory and voluntary agencies to build an ongoing programme to deal with these needs in a more sustained manner.

Over the next year a number of groups will be taking part on the project. The programme will begin with a residential to both introduce the group to each other and to the project's purpose. After this each group will be taking part in regular sessions which aim to explore and develop their attitude and beliefs towards particular topics. In addition we will be organizing other activities and day trips to complement the other aspects of the project. It s also our intention to monitor and evaluate the progress of the project so that we can gauge its success or otherwise. This is important so that we can make good decisions regarding programme content or practices.

Volunteers are going to be an important aid to carrying out this work and will be used to assist in the smooth running of the events throughout the year. In return we are looking at ways of providing training for volunteers so that they can develop their own skills in the issues involved in this type of work, and also to gain valuable experience in youth work.

It is the intention of Divert to allow participants the chance to belong to a group which is educational, recreational and free from the pressures typical of marginalised youth. We so expect that members will agree on the rules of behaviour for the group, and will lay an important role in monitoring their own behaviour