What’s stopping young people from taking action on the issues they care about?

It’s a myth that young people don’tvolunteer because they can’t be bothered. A new report from v shows that young people care passionately about local and global issues, and would take action if given the right opportunity.

Based on surveys of more than 1,000 young people, the report asks what’s stopping young people from taking action on the issues they care about.

There’s a lot of concern about global issues like terrorism, war, poverty and climate change. In local communities, the biggest issues are the lack of things to do, negative perceptions of young people, crime and the local environment.

So if we care so much, why aren’t more of us doing something about it? Fewer than half of the young people surveyed had taken action on the issues that matter to them.

It's not all about time...
Unsurprisingly, time is the biggest barrier but there are other problems that loads of people are facing:

don’t know how to get involved and take action on issues they care about (50%)
don’t think they have anything to offer (23%)

Confusing information, transport and childcare are also problems, while 7 per cent said they worried about what their friends would think of them.

So, are young people just sitting around doing nothing? Not at all. Loads of 16 – 25 year olds act on their personal passions for things like sport, friends and music by sharing information (62%), helping people (51%), creating resources (47%), and joining clubs or groups (45%).

Do what you like, and change the world
The moral of the story? If we are to inspire many more young people to volunteer, we need to bring young people’s concerns and their personal passions closer together.

v is helping by funding projects like Oxjam, along with MTV and Galaxy. This October, thousands of volunteers will use their passion for making music and organising gigs to raise cash and help end poverty.