Future Jobs Providing Opportunities For Young People
29th July, 2010
The 100th person to be employed in Plymouth through the Future Jobs Fund has started working at Horizon’s Children’s Sailing Charity.
The scheme’s remit is to provide employment, training and skills development to 18-24 year olds who have been unemployed for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 52 weeks.
Horizon’s give disabled and disadvantaged children in and around Plymouth the opportunity to try sailing through schools and local evening and holiday clubs.
James Sowter, 18, said: “I can’t wait to get started. 6 months without a job was starting to get to me. Working here has got to be the best job opportunity going.”
Responding to news that the coalition has chosen to end the Future Jobs Fund scheme, Graham Morris, Project Manager of the Plymouth Employment and Skills Board and Chair of the Future Jobs Fund Steering Group said: "Although the coalition has announced the end of Future Jobs Fund, in practice, the scheme in Plymouth will continue employing young people until September 2011. I would encourage unemployed 19-24s to take advantage of the opportunities the scheme offers.
"Some recent reports have stated that employers have been paid to provide jobs that people have not turned up for. This is not our experience here, our young people have shown real commitment and enthusiasm and have embarked on NVQs and practical qualifications to back up their employment.
“We hope that whatever arrangements are put in place to support unemployed people in gaining real jobs will offer the same quality of opportunity we are offering in Plymouth."
To get the project off the ground, the Wolseley Trust along with its partners put a successful bid together to obtain funding to employ a total of 181 young people across the city. Plymouth Employment and Skills Board, Plymouth City Council, City College, Plymouth Guild, Groundwork South West and Plymouth Care and Repair are just some of the organisations involved.
Peter Flukes, Chief Executive of the Wolseley Trust said: “One of the overriding priorities of the Future Jobs Fund is to create jobs with a social benefit as well as providing quality employment and training for young people.
“We decided to look at what we were doing to help young people who have been disproportionately badly hit by the recession.
Wolseley Trust is responsible for employing and making training needs assessments for everyone taken on. They and the partnership have been very clear that the positions they offer must be real jobs and that the training offered is supplied by established training providers like City College.
Graham Morris, Project Director of Plymouth Employment and Skills Board said: “Too often young people apply for jobs only to be told that they do not have enough experience.
“Throughout the 6 months they are employed, we aim to offer our employees a comprehensive package of skills development and training whether through NVQs or other certification to underpin the work they are doing. We want to give them something more to offer future employers.”
Peter Flukes continued: “The feedback we are getting from partner organisations is fantastic. Everyone has been really pleased with the hard work and enthusiasm they see coming from their workers, it really blows away the stereotype of young people not wanting to work.”
One of the third sector partners is Plymouth Guild where Holly Chilton, aged 24 is working in ‘Active for Life’. The service was set up to help people with learning disabilities and/or mental health problems enjoy regular physical activities whether through sports and games or organized walks, even gardening.
Holly graduated from the University of Gloucestershire in 2007 with a degree in Sociology and Psychology but had been unable to find a job until now. She said: “Having worked really hard for my degree, it was tough to come home and be out of work for over 2 years. I’m a really proactive person so I went back into volunteering and applied for a variety of jobs but it became really demoralizing.”
Holly’s manager Gemma MacDonald said: “Holly is just brilliant to work with. She’s enthusiastic, committed and has completed everything I’ve asked her to do. The scheme does provide a good opportunity to gain real skills and knowledge.”
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