HARROW teenagers leaving care are showing off their music skills at a special youth conference.
Rising music stars Young Nate and DJ Ironik will be performing live at Yes We Can a conference designed to show youngsters leaving care the range of job and training opportunities on offer.
Now in its fourth year, the Leaving Care conference tackles the issues that face the 150 young people aged 16-21 who have been in care in Harrow.
Young Nate and DJ Ironik will act as star curtain raisers, performing their hits I wonder and Stay With Me.
But the event itself will then get down to the serious business of opportunities for teens whose troubled backgrounds - ranging from poor parenting to abuse - led to them entering care. The theme of the event - Yes We Can -deliberately borrows the Barack Obama election slogan to underline the point that children with difficult pasts can go on to high achieving adult lives.
Potential employers like Tesco and Tate Britain will join with colleges in Harrow at the day-long event to show teenagers the kind of training and jobs available. The conference is also designed for teenagers themselves to ask as many questions as possible.
Harrow Council's corporate director of Children's Services Paul Clark said: "The period when young people who have been in care move to the adult world is an absolutely critical one. Decisions made then can shape the rest of their lives.
"This conference will be a shop window into training and employment opportunities for young people. We hope the optimism of the conference's title, Yes We Can, will be an encouragement for Harrow's teens in care to go on to productive adult lives."
The conference takes place on Thursday April 16 at Hatch End High School, from 9.45 am until 3pm.
