Could you help improve disadvantaged young people to become employable?

We’re a very unusual charity based in Leeds that passionately believes that all young people should be able to reach their potential. Over 86k young people in our region are not in employment, education or training.

Over 35% of these will suffer from mental illness and 33% from loneliness through isolation. We know that unemployment now is likely to lead to more unemployment in the future but is also likely to cause poor health outcomes too. The education system we have now doesn’t suit all learners and we know that 65% of those on free school meals are not likely to have 5 good GCSEs. For those that don’t achieve this level they are 50% more likely to be unemployed. These aren’t the only causes of youth unemployment, young carers and those with disabilities are facing even more disadvantage.
We can’t continue to let down our young people in this way.

Equally we know that employers don’t have the talent pipeline they need, there’s a clear mismatch between the education system we have now and what employers need.
We’ve been around 21 years, as a charity that’s not like the norm, we provide professional training and consultancy in creativity for schools and business and all our profits from this go to support our programmes for young people. We can only do so much and we need help to try and break these negative cycles.

Our programmes with young people work – we’ve done the research, we’ve evaluated the outcomes. We know that by developing creative skills (resilience, team work, confidence, problem-solving etc) young people are more ready to enter the world of work. However, we can’t do this on our own.
We have a range of opportunities available, sponsorship, volunteering for you or your staff team, the offer of your professional expertise.

We equally know that as a business you have a lot on so we will work alongside you so that you meet your objectives for engagement whether it be brand awareness, staff engagement etc Get in touch to have a coffee and a chat.

Contact: jo@weareive.org