Disaffected youths are to be taken go-karting and given free gym sessions in a bid to re-engage them with society.

About 25 black and mixed-race descent youngsters will take part in a fortnight of activities as part of the African Caribbean Youth Project's summer scheme in Blackbird Leys.

The youngsters have all fallen out of education, do not work and some have resorted to crime.

Youth workers hope the activities, which start on Monday, will provide a platform where they can talk to the teenagers about the options still open to them.

They hope the project will enable them to persuade the young men and women to return to education, apply for jobs or spend some of their time as volunteers.

Dolcie Obhiozele, an African Caribbean youth worker based at Blackbird Leys Youth Centre, said: "It is about trying to re-engage them and trying to give them options in their life, so they can make informed decisions about what they do.

"They are feeling possibly socially excluded, disconnected and disenfranchised from what is going on.

"The activities are a way of building up a relationship and conversation - and a discussion about what they are into and what their worries and concerns are."

Ms Obhiozele said some of the young people, aged from 15 to 20, were underachievers while others had been through the criminal justice system.

She said a £1,000 grant from Oxford City Council would help pay for some of the activities on offer - including fashion design lessons and go-karting.

Daily sessions will run at the youth centre between 5pm and 9.30pm.

A sleepover for young women would also be arranged as part of the project, Ms Obhiozele said.

In April, the youth project arranged a Dragon's Den-style event for nine unemployed youths.

The young people had to pitch their business ideas to a range of local 'Dragons' before they were given feedback and advice.

Ms Obhiozele said: "The summer scheme is for anybody who has slipped through the net.

"Hopefully we will have 25 people.

"We are going to try and use very creative ways to get to them.

"It is things like going to the gym, which a lot of young people are interested in because they want to get fit."