Heather Gray: How working together will give youth a chance

Despite the barrage of negative statistics, we know young people are determined to make the most of their lives and have witnessed many tangible successes.

It is these success stories that will give us all the confidence to tackle the challenges of 2012 head-on. Through innovative partnerships and new approaches, opportunities are being carved out, giving marginalised young people a firm grip on sustainable skills and jobs that will help them deal with whatever next year has in store.

The Prince’s Trust works with companies such as Arnold Clark and Scotmid, as well as many others, demonstrating that the Scottish private sector sees the potential of our young people to succeed and has confidence that they’re worth investing in as our economy’s strongest asset. We will also welcome a growing number of public-sector partners like local authorities, the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland, who realise that innovative solutions to the social problems that are part and parcel of youth unemployment are at hand.

This week, key economic stakeholders from the public and private sectors are in Edinburgh for The Prince’s Trust Scotland’s annual Celebrate Success Awards. This our chance to recognise the enormous achievements made by some of the 4,500 young people we have supported to turn their lives around through providing training, helping to increase their employability, confidence and skill-set.

So, while Scotland’s unemployment figures remain sobering, we are increasingly seeing the building blocks for long-term success come together for one reason: the ability of the third sector, private sector and public sector to work together to see our young peoples’ potential and to enable them to realise success.

• Heather Gray is chief executive of The Prince’s Trust Scotland