Oxfordshire Youth to help more disadvantaged young people into employment
Charity secures £150,000 funding to expand career opportunities
Oxfordshire Youth is set to help more disadvantaged young people begin their career journeys as part of its employment-focused programme, Business Guardians.
The charity secured funding of £50,000 annually for three years from Oxfordshire County Council to launch its initiative, which connects young people across the county with businesses to open up job opportunities and develop employability skills.
Jodie Lloyd-Jones, the charity's CEO, highlighted the disparity locally that creates obstacles for young people trying to access training and jobs.
“The inequalities are very real within the county and so there is a very big difference in terms of what young people are able to access and the opportunities that they have,” Jodie said.
The Business Guardians programme is bringing together businesses and youth organisations to drive change across the employment landscape.
Over the past 18 months, the scheme has partnered with nine businesses to create mentoring and engagement opportunities for young people, and recruitment for three more businesses is underway.
"We're so fortunate because we have shared values and beliefs that every young person really deserves access to meaningful careers and opportunities and its great to have these brains and expertise around the table working together to create change," Jodie said
CEOs of the organisations already signed up will mentor young people directly.
Additionally, the programme will host its first “not your average careers fair,” designed to connect potential employees and employers by having open conversations and building relationships.
Jodie shared a success story from a previous scheme called Digital Natives, which focused on equipping local young people with skills such as website creation and video editing.
One of its business partners, tech company Ebbon Group, held workshops for the young people, who were then invited to see the workplace.
During the visit, they were able to see their technology in use and even go in a driverless car.
At the end, two participants were given work experience at Ebbon Group and have since explored a mentoring relationship with the CEO.
Jodie said: "That is such a great example of, an experience that the young person may not have ever had that could actually leave directly into employment.
"They could end up going into that career and even if they don't, it's helped them to really think differently about the workplace and what's available to them."
The new project aims to reach 500 additional young people in the coming years.
Jodie said she hopes more businesses will come forward to help: “The more we can get businesses involved the greater impact we can have in terms of skills and employment, and effectively it's a win-win situation for everybody."