Youth campaigning project Battlefront is back

21 August 2012

Channel 4's youth campaigning project Battlefront is back and it's bigger than ever!    channel4.com/battlefront

The Campaign to Combat Youth Unemployment is well underway and one campaigner, Ava Patel (23), is aiming to take the campaign to top politicians as she sets out to get young people's voices heard on the issue:  "All we ever hear is the views from employers and politicians that young people are lazy, we're job snobs and we don't have the skills needed for workplace.  I've applied for hundreds of jobs and the amount of rejections I received made me feel completely demoralised.  No-one would tell me why I wasn't right for the job, I felt like every door was slammed in my face."

Ava, a graduate from Blackburn, who's experienced the harsh realities of unemployment first-hand, is trying to generate as much press and publicity for her campaign as possible.  As part of her campaign, Ava is going to form a choir, but not just any choir - a choir of unemployed 18-24 year olds who will perform in public to get the message out there.  To help her perfect her vocals she will be working with chart topper Paloma Faith.   Ava and her singing campaigners are aiming to gather as many column inches and as much radio and television exposure as they can, in order for the powers-that-be to get wind of their crusade.

Ava's mentor, John Higginson Political Editor of the Metro newspaper, will be on-hand to provide guidance and advice and she's managed to bag a PR master class with Max Clifford.  But it's up to Ava to get her message across to the public and politicians alike, and put forth the views of UK youth on the single biggest issue affecting them today.  With young people being described as "lazy"

"not ready to work" and "unemployable," Ava wants to show that the youth of Britain are more than ready to work and are desperately trying to avoid becoming what some people are calling the ‘lost generation.'

Battlefront is an Emmy-award winning Channel 4 TV series and online project that follows a group of young campaigners on a mission to change the world and this year it has employed four young unemployed and underemployed young people (including Ava) as fully paid members of the team to tackle the problem.  They'll head up the campaign on-screen and on the website, asking the important questions and investigating this huge issue which faces so many young people in 2012. 

Travelling up and down the country our campaigners will enlist the help of expert mentors, celebrity supporters, politicians, employers and the young unemployed people of Britain as part of the Campaign to Combat Youth Unemployment. 

What people have said about Battlefront:

"This in an initiative that I hope will make young people feel that they have a voice at the heart of government." Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg

"I think it's absolutely amazing what they're doing."  Ellie Goulding

"Young people campaigning? I think it's good, man, it's a sign of our generation." Toddla T