Running community cafés helps jobless young people acquire crucial work skills

Provider UK Youth and Starbucks

Name Youth Action programme

Young people struggling to get a foot on the job ladder are gaining valuable work experience by running their own community cafés as part of a youth-led employment support programme.

Youth Action has been set up by UK Youth, in partnership with coffee retailer Starbucks, to help some of the 800,000 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK who are not in education, employment or training. Of these, it is reported that 42 per cent are actively looking and available for work, suggesting some need more support and encouragement to develop their work-readiness.

Delivered across the North East of England, Bristol and Scotland through UK Youth members, Youth Action targets disadvantaged young people living in deprived areas. It gives them the chance to learn life skills through employability training, which is delivered using the UK Youth employability toolkit.

The new toolkit addresses the key issues young people face surrounding employment through fun exercises that get them to think about their future from a new perspective, develop their readiness for employment, support their confidence and build their character.

After the training is complete, young people are able to put into practice what they have learnt by creating their own business running local community cafés, while receiving support from their youth worker, the UK Youth team and also Starbucks' volunteers.

The cafés are completely youth-led and are planned, publicised and delivered by the young people in their local youth centre, with resources, such as coffee and biscuits, provided by Starbucks. If they manage to fundraise through their community café, they can choose where the funds will go - most likely back in to their local youth club or to a charity of their choice. Once the café has been delivered - some run for just a day, others for longer - there is an opportunity for the young people to reflect with their youth workers on its success, as any business person might while setting up a new business.

The experience of setting up the cafés help the young people gain confidence while increasing their employability skills and giving them a taster of setting up their own business. They are also an opportunity to practice these new-found skills, create social action and give back to their local community.

At the end of the programme, Starbucks guarantees that all those who have taken part will get an interview with one of their local stores. The offer of a job is not guaranteed, but the experience of a professional interview is invaluable regardless of their career aspirations, especially for those young people who have never applied for a job or had an interview before.

UK Youth hopes the programme will benefit 250 young people. Feedback has been fantastic and there are young people that have taken part in the programme who have already attained employment.

By Anna Smee, UK Youth

My View

By Milo Mooney, 19, Bristol

"I was very nervous before I started the Youth Action employability course. Applying for jobs for the first time is hard when you have no help. I didn't know where to start. But from the first day, it was great to be with other young people in the same situation and we supported each other from the beginning.

From the first session, I started feeling more relaxed. Instead of feeling like I had a massive task ahead of me, it became more of an exciting new beginning. Rebecca, a job coach at Creative Youth Network and UK Youth member, was very helpful and supportive throughout and answered every question I had. I really enjoyed meeting employers in the networking session. They weren't as scary as I thought. We had enjoyable chats and the activities meant we talked about what we had in common.

After that, organising a café with Starbucks was very exciting. It made us work as a team; everyone had their own roles and the day was great. When it came to applying for a job as a barista, I felt prepared and I knew I had the experience needed. I went through the application with my youth worker and did a lot of interview prep which made me feel more at ease."