This research project looks at the way that youth initiatives impact the aspirations and trajectories of youths living in the Cape Flats. Identifying the stigmatised condition of young men living in 'ganglands', I identify gangs as offering empowering solutions and alternative trajectories in contexts of urban marginalisation. In a scenario of neoliberal youth governmentality, I look at the way different youth initiatives seek to repertoires that offer valid alternatives to gangs.