Amelia Dimoldenberg seeks solutions to the NEET crisis in Big Issue guest edit

Monday 17 August – Amelia Dimoldenberg, the creator and star of YouTube hit Chicken Shop Date, has guest edited a special edition of the Big Issue exploring solutions to the NEET crisis.

On sale from today (17 August), Dimoldenberg has assembled a group of famous creatives to speak about the work they’re doing to enable greater opportunities for young people, especially in the creative industries.

Contributors to Amelia’s special ‘Opportunity Issue’ include Love Island host Maya Jama, Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens and hip-hop musician Loyle Carner, as well as comedian Munya Chawawa in conversation with Big Boys writer Jack Rooke.

There’s also interviews with Informer and Film Club star Nabhaan Rizwan, and the actor Daniel Mays, who is also a Big Issue ambassador.

Dimoldenberg tells the Big Issue: “My big issue is that young people deserve better.

“It is far too easy for critics to label young people disengaged. [Alan Milburn’s] report proves the reality is structural – mental health struggles, regional inequalities, and stripped-back youth services have systematically shut doors in their faces.

“The vast majority have everything they need to get employment but they are in a rejection loop. They just need someone to open a door for them. They need someone who knows someone to send their CV to someone.

“They need nepotism, basically. So I encourage people who can open their network, who can create opportunities and put people forward for work experience placements, to do so because that’s definitely a way we can help.”

Dimoldenberg also tells the Big Issue that her hit series Chicken Shop Date would never existed without a charity since axed due to austerity cuts under the last government.

“Long before Chicken Shop Date was the global hit on YouTube that it is today, it was a column written by the 17-year-old me in a magazine called The Cut that was run out of a youth club in north-west London – which now doesn’t exist due to austerity cuts by the Conservative government. Without that grassroots foundation, the idea that started everything, simply wouldn’t exist.”

She speaks of how her parents’ political backgrounds were formative in her decision to set up the Dimz Inc. Academy, which is offering young people hands-on media training, industry mentorship and paid work placements over the summer.

“My parents… have always been incredibly politically motivated,” she tells the Big Issue. “My dad is a local politician. My mum’s a librarian. She’s retired now, but the importance of community organising was instilled in me because that’s who they are, that’s their bread and butter.

“That’s just part of my value system, it would always be the case that I would want to try and galvanise other people or create something that involved people coming together.”

Amelia Dimoldenberg’s special ‘Opportunity Issue’ is on sale this week from Big Issue vendors across the country. Vendors buy their magazines for £2.50 and sell them for £5, keeping the difference as income.