Organisations and groups are being encouraged to plan now for The Year of Young People.

There are 6 main themes to the year long event.

• Culture
• Education
• Enterprise and Regeneration
• Equality and Discrimination
• Health and Well Being
• Participation

Young Scot, Children in Scotland and  the Scottish Youth Parliament have collaborated to produce guidance on how to get involved.

Youthlink Scotland’s fund is open to groups from the voluntary youth work sector, local authorities and community learning services.(At the date of publication this was currently closed.) There is also Round 2 of funding available to help towards organising local events at Create18 between July and December of 2018.

To support the Year, a group of young leaders called Communic18, will work with organisations throughout 2018.

Communic18 member Lauren Asher, 18, from Dumfries, said:

“I wanted to be involved in the Year to help challenge the perceptions of young people.

“I have suffered from mental health issues and as part of my role, I hope to give more young people a voice on this issue so that we can change attitudes and ensure young people are having their say on issues which affect their lives.”

Watch: Meet Communic18

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland said:

“The Year of Young People will give young people a new platform and new opportunities for their voices to be heard in all parts of our society and hopefully help to foster a better understanding, co-operation and respect between generations.”