Paid training scheme for Tottenham's young people 'can compete with streets'

11:02am Thursday 28th January 2010

By Elizabeth Pears

UNEMPLOYED young people in Tottenham will be paid to train in health and fitness as part of a plan to lure them away from making quick-money on the streets.

The TAG (Transforming a Generation) project, will give 16 young people, aged between 18 and 24, the opportunity to gain "soft" skills - such as how to behave in the workplace - during six-month work placements at leading gyms across London, while being paid a living wage.

At the end of the programme, they will walk away as fully-qualified fitness trainers and will be in a position to decide whether to go into further education or work in a gym full-time, project leaders said.

Clasford Stirling MBE, a community development officer at Broadwater Farm, where the project is based, said: "When I first heard about this, it blew me away. Finally, we have a realistic scheme that can compete with the streets.

"Drug dealers in Tottenham are driving fancy cars and that lifestyle can be tempting as a quick way to make money but this scheme can address the practical need and offer young people the chance of a real future."

The programme, which launched last Friday, starts with just six weeks of theory-based teaching in the classrooms in the Broadwater Farm Community Centre — a place where the young people feel at home, Mr Stirling said.

TAG was set up by Fred Turok, chairman of the FIA, the trade body for the health and fitness industry, and founder and chairman of LA Fitness.

Mr Turok said: "I grew up in South Africa and I only know too well about the struggle for social equality. I have a successful career and I have a social conscience. I wanted to give something back.

"Young men and women who live in deprived areas like Tottenham, are not always the people who were able to sit still in class but grew up playing sport with their friends. Working in a gym is all about being active, it's not the same as being trapped in an office. I think that's why this is so attractive".

Young people that applied for the TAG scheme, had been unemployed for more than six months, but all demonstrated a desire to get their lives on track.

The project is also being backed by Tottenham MP David Lammy who worked with TAG to get them to come to consider working with the young people in Broadwater Farm.

Graeme Burke, 22, of Tottenham, said: "It's being paid to train that makes the difference. Money is always an issue. It's funny, but you actually need money in the first place just to find a job to pay for clothes for an interview or on travel.

"I look at this course as a real blessing but I know success is not going to you if you just sit back so I'm ready to work hard and do my best".

Mr Lammy said: "The TAG model unites young people who need opportunities and employers who need energetic and enthusiastic young people.

"In communities such as Haringey it is vital that young people are noticed, given opportunities and are put on a path to a great career in health and fitness where they can see the many possibilities for their futures."