YOUNG people are all hoodie wearing yobs that carry a knife, binge drink and loiter around being a nuisance, right?

Of course this is not correct, and yet it is how young people are often depicted by the media. Some have taken a few extreme cases of young people’s antisocial behaviour and decided that we are all like that.

Personally, I have never been approached by anyone in a hoodie, knife in one hand and a tag round their leg demanding hat I give them my money, phone and shoes and I bet that the majority of you haven’t either.

I searched the words ‘yob’ and ‘thug’ on a popular tabloid magazine and found 4142 results since 2010 containing one of those words. I had a scroll through the headlines and around 9/10 the word youth was next to it.

In my view, a negative stereotype of young people has been created which I’m determined to help turn around during my time as Youth Mayor. So let’s talk about some of the young people who are doing amazing work in the community.

Tyrell Christopher aged 19 is a passionate social entrepreneur who divides his time between mentoring, fundraising, being an ambassador for his community and an environmentalist. He has been a Team Leader for vInspired to show young people that volunteering can make a difference in their community. He has run many projects such as raising awareness of Youth Homelessness in the UK.

Currently he runs his social enterprise where he's on a mission to fight obesity by challenging people to make their health a priority and helping people create financial prosperity for themselves. Tyrell is also a member of Youth Parliament where he encourages young people to get their voice heard. Tyrell has received many awards and recognition from his school and the Mayor for his great work in the community.

Aisha Cameron Lewis, 16, had a difficult time at school and is now living on her own. Aisha has worked tirelessly in improving the community and youth centres by setting up a dance group for disadvantaged young people.

She has been dancing since she was nine and has taken part in a number of competitions, coming first at a competition at Hammersmith Town Hall where she was up against another 31 dance groups. The group of young people that she teaches African, street and urban dance to once a week have preformed at Acton carnival and made a dance track to send to young people in the Congo. She has now received an unconditional offer at West Thames on Level 3 extended diploma in performing arts.

Malakai Scott, 15, is doing a lot of work around promoting anti gang crime and violence. Working with the voluntary organisation C.R.I.M.E (creating role models in media enterprise) which takes troubled young people, gang members and ex-offenders and introduces them to the world of TV and Film, Malakai hopes to help young people change their life around.

Having known people who have been involved in gangs, crime and antisocial behaviour he has really witnessed first hand the problems and hopes to share his personal experience with other young people. You can find out more here: http://www.creatingrolemodels.com/

These are just a few of the positive things that young people are doing in Ealing. I want to use the fantastic opportunity that the Ealing Gazette has given me through this column to show you even more in the months ahead.