A North Belfast youth worker says it's crucial that investment is found for the city's young people to avoid situations like the Lanark Way riots last year.
Katieann Doran has been involved with youth work across East, West and North Belfast and has worked first-hand with young people in areas of low resource.
She said last summer was a result of young people being restricted in their daily lives and of a lack of activities and resources for them in their areas.
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"There was last year, all that stuff going on with Lanark Way and the young people just didn't know themselves," she told Belfast Live.
"I was doing a programme with a youth cub asking young people, all informally and confidentially, were they involved?
"Some of the answers were yes, but they didn't understand what it was for, they didn't understand what the whole thing was about.
"At the time with Covid, they were bored, they didn't know what they were meant to be at, they just needed something.
"Young people hadn't got that structure that they once had before that - even trying to introduce them into group work now, has been a bit challenging, because they're not stimulated enough."
Katieann, 21, is set to study Community Youth Work at Ulster University in September having spent the last few years in a mix of voluntary and paid youth work roles.
She said the disorder last summer was heart-breaking as it meant young people getting a bad name at a time when they didn't have anything else to look forward to.
"It was just so frustrating reading about it at the time, because even youth workers were getting a bad name," she said.
"We were getting photographed as if we were involved in the riots when we were actually trying to tell young people 'don't do it, don't get involved', we were trying to help them.
"When it comes to that too, young people would think we're working with the police when really we're not, we're trying to help warn them.
"Yes we do work with the police, but we also work with the young people and the young people are still going to be my first priority no matter what - keeping them safe, keeping them in the right.
"That Lanark Way situation was just crazy, but I feel like after that now, we're getting back on a good basis."
Katieann is one of many young people from marginalised backgrounds who has benefited from the Youth Empowered programme run by Coca-Cola and Youth Action NI.
Having not been accepted to her desired course previously, the programme helped Katieann complete her Level 4 youth work certificate and and allowed her to gain the practical experience which means she will now study at university.
It was that positive attitude towards life's setbacks that allowed Katieann to take a silver lining from the grief of losing her father in 2020.
She said she was determined to show young people that there was more than one way to pursue your passions.
"My dad always told me I'm so proud of you, he just understood working for your community and working as a youth worker," she said.
"I do enjoy it myself and I'm doing it for myself but I also feel like it is for him too, it's like a thing I'm always going to do for him, I'm going to make Dad proud.
"I'm glad I didn't get into the degree the first time, I wasn't ready for it.
"I can tell young people that there are all these different pathways, it's not just one straight road.
"I feel like only now I'm ready for this degree and that's going to help me progress really."
The Coca-Cola and Youth Action NI Youth Empowered initiative is aimed primarily at young women and marginalised young people.
Its grant and support have heled 5,500 people on the island of Ireland to date and will help a further 2,00 young people in the year ahead.
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