Young Bermudians benefited from the National Youth Service Initiative Forum held this week at the Sonesta Beach Hotel Resort.

The aim was to have as many community project workers and young people present so that a report could be prepared on future youth developments.

One of the keynote speakers was Sgt. DeLacy Davis of the East Orange County Police Department, New Jersey, who said that governments could not give youth organisations enough money.

Sgt. Davis, who is also a firearms instructor, has run successful youth groups for the last two years and has decreased the amount of young offenders in his area by 33 percent.

When he was handed the seven inner city youth groups he had a budget of $5,000.

He discovered that most crimes were committed between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. - so they decided to keep them busy then.

The parents of the children who attend his groups have to attend a five-week training session on parenting, because he said: "I watched the children and thought back to what my mother always said, `If the kid is crazy, then usually the parent is crazy too'."

"Gone are the days when children are seen but not heard. The answers are with the youth and we need to incorporate them into the process."

"Young people need to be empowered, its not about me being the leader and you doing what I say. Allow them to head up their own projects and give them the responsibility of making it work."

The speaker yesterday was Geoff Thompson MBE, who was five times world karate champion, and is executive chair of the Youth Charter for Sports in the United Kingdom.

He said: "The Youth Charter grew out of Manchester, in the north of England, and has a sound social pillar of strategy. The attitude with older people is often `do as I say and not as I do', but the youth aren't buying that anymore. It has always been a good time for change and remember when one door closes a window or another door will open. Always have a few plans in this life, plan a, plan b and plan c. Many of the young people who spoke out had concerns about whether the conference was actually really going to help. They also questioned the lack of students at the event.

Patricka Ferguson, 20, said: "It has been inspiring to see that they are passionate about our futures.

CedarBridge Academy student Sharla Bean felt they were unfortunately preaching to the converted as all the students from her school who had been invited were "A" students.