The effects of gang culture on inner city communities are being tackled in a new project set up in south Manchester

Carisma aims to help youngsters living in areas such as Moss Side and Longsight gain better access to education, healthcare and housing.

Organisers hope it will help young people turn away from a life of crime.

The group was set up on Wednesday night and follows the Gangstop protest in May, which was aimed at reclaiming the streets from the gangs.

It is unfair to tar all our youngsters with the gangster brush, but gang culture is still a problem in our areas

Erima Bound, Carisma

The 200 protestors on the march through the city included the parents of young men shot dead in gang-related incidents.

Carisma's Erima Bound said she hoped to prevent children repeating her generation's mistakes.

She told BBC News Online: "We want people to be able to get decent jobs, not just normal poxy jobs, through education.

"With my age group it took us 10 to 15 years after leaving school to realise what could be achieved.

"People my age have only just started doing higher education and learning skills that can get us a decent job and enable us to own our own homes and cars and things like that.

Raise profile

"Our children don't need to wait.

"They may see their parents struggling as we saw our parents struggling, but there are opportunities open to them to improve themselves.

She added: "It is unfair to tar all our youngsters with the gangster brush, but gang culture is still a problem in our areas."

Carisma - which stands for Community Alliance For Renewal of Inner South Manchester Area - aims to bring people into contact with voluntary and other organisations in their areas.

It hopes it will raise the positive profile of the area, which has suffered a negative image in the past, and attract national and local government help.