COMMUNITY spirit is alive and well among a group of young people in Bradford, who are spending the summer involved in various projects, from washing cars to creating a community garden.

They are part of the National Citizen Service (NCS), a scheme set up by the Government to help young people aged 16 -18 develop leadership and citizenship skills.

The young people are taking part in a four-week residential scheme which will see them developing teambuilding skills and overcoming challenges at an outdoor pursuits centre, learning to be more independent, finding out about the needs of their local communities, and undergoing training to deliver a Social Action Plan.

The scheme is run by SERCO and managed locally by Bradford Community Voluntary Service (CVS); Woodcraft Folk, a youth workers' co-operative; Brathay Trust, which works with young offenders and other young people; and Bradford City Community Foundation (BCCF).

The BCCF is working with 150 young people in three groups, one of which has been busy this week with a community clean-up and creating a garden area in a sheltered housing complex at the Sutton estate in Tyersal. Both projects have been in partnership with Affinity Sutton Housing and environmental organisation Greenfingers. The group will also meet staff at Factory Street Studios in Bradford to discuss volunteering at a music festival being held there from August 8 - 10.

Another group, which has completed a residential session in Scotland, recently spent a day packing food parcels at Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank, and this week they are holding a car wash and a cake stall at Bradford City Football Club to raise funds for the food bank.

The third group, comprised of 75 young people, will head to a residential in Scotland next month.

Paula Helliwell from BCCF said that as well as fostering community spirit, the scheme helps young people to mature and gain a sense of independence.

"The overall aim is to give them independence and leadership skills, and to enable them to give something back to their community," she said. "It does them good to spend time away from home on the residentials because they have to manage a budget and buy food and cook as a group. It helps them to grow up.

"With the community projects they have learned about perseverance. This week they've been working on a communal garden for older people who have difficulty maintaining it themselves; it's been really hard work but the group has pressed on with it and has done a great job. They have been working with Greenfingers so they've been learning now to take guidance too."

The aim of NCS is to give young people chance to spend time away from home developing employment and life skills, with a view to giving something back to their communities, and make a difference.

Working with businesses and community figures, they learn new skills, find out more about their neighbourhoods and develop and deliver volunteering projects. The programme will be followed by a graduation event, with each participant receiving a certificate.

Following the NCS pilot scheme in Bradford in 2012, 85per cent of young people taking part gained education or employment opportunities and 95 per cent of young people reported that it had given them chance to develop useful skills for the future. Responding to an NCS survey, 91 per cent of headteachers and teachers said their students gained "significant benefits".

More than 200,000 hours of social action were completed by NCS participants nationally in 2011 and 85 per cent of participants said that NCS had made them aware of more education or employment opportunities. More than 90per cent of participants agreed that NCS had given them the chance to know people they would not normally mix with.

The young participants build a range of skills - communication, problem-solving, decision-making, time-management and team work - and take part in outdoor activities designed to challenge them as individuals and get them working as a team.

Each graduate of NCS has the opportunity to join an NCS Association and can be elected to a regional youth board which supports young people undertaking new voluntary activities. They also have the option of becoming a student helper or a mentor for subsequent NCS programmes.

* For more about the National Citizen Service go to ncsyes.co.uk