Teens’ Inner City Employment Plea

A group of teenagers from three of Cardiff’s inner city areas are to challenge business leaders to employ more people from their areas.

The youngsters from Butetown, Riverside and Grangetown have organised a conference with around 100 delegates from Cardiff’s business community.

They want to change the image of the area and attract business leaders to employ more people from the area.

The group spent their summer holidays planning the debate.

The youngsters have developed a series of workshops for the delegates to participate in.

They hope this will encourage business leaders to consider how people from disadvantaged areas can increase their chances of securing top jobs while making a positive contribution to the city’s economy.

The conference will include workshops, hosted by the teenagers, on issues like equal opportunities, training and employing young people.

Members of the BRG Action Group organised the conference at the Wales Millennium Centre in their spare time over the school summer holidays.

“People say Grangetown, Butetown and Riverside are bad places, but they are not and we want to say to business people that there are good people living here and they should consider employing us,” said 15-year-old Khalid Ayanleh.

Alia Radman, 14, who plans to study law when she leaves school said that the group wanted to highlight the positives of the areas they were from.

“When you say you are from Grangetown, it is like you are dismissed and we want business to take on board that there are good people living in these areas who they should consider employing,” she said.

Mohamed Dualeh, 19 added: “This is a proud moment for us as we have worked so hard to put this event on.

“During the day we hope we can convince local bosses that young people from Butetown, Riverside and Grangetown are qualified, talented and above all, employable.

“We know we can help this city to continue to grow – we just need a chance to show what we can do.”

Barbara Natasegara, Chief Executive of Safer Wales said: “We are very excited about this event as we believe that young people in these areas are often overlooked, marginalised and misunderstood.

“I’ve witnessed the group’s passion and commitment at first hand, and I hope local employers will realise how such energy can be positively channelled into the city’s economy for generations to come.”