ACTION
Building Connections, an employability programme run by UK Youth, harnesses the skills of youth work to help more vulnerable and disadvantaged young people into the workplace.
The charity describes the programme, now in its third year, as an investment in youth work that aims to create “stronger pathways to employment” for young people.
It says the initiative draws on learning gathered over the course of a previous five-year programme, Reach Up, which targeted young people aged 16 to 25 who were not in education, employment or training (Neet) or at risk of becoming Neet.
Both programmes were designed to empower young people with the confidence, skills and experience necessary to feel ready for work as well as helping to break down barriers preventing them from accessing employment opportunities.
“One of the learnings we took from Reach Up was that there was a need for capacity building within the youth sector to be able to run employability programmes and to help connect young people to local opportunities,” explains Lauren Oliver, UK Youth's head of network delivery.
She says there was a recognition that youth workers could provide a community link worker role with an “employability focus”.
“It was about looking at how they build partnerships with local employers and businesses and thinking about what they need to be able to do that – and then how to connect young people in real time to those opportunities,” says Oliver.
For many young people, these “opportunities” might not necessarily mean a work experience placement or a job.
“It might just be a tiny step that you need to take when you are trying to work out what you want to do and what it takes to get and keep a job,” she adds.
“That might be short term mentoring or a presentation from a local employer about the different roles they have available.”
These examples illustrate the steps the programme takes to overcome barriers that young people with additional needs or mental health issues say they experience when trying to enter the workplace.
Four youth organisations in Greater Manchester, Slough, Leicestershire and Sussex were “handpicked” by UK Youth to deliver Building Connections in its launch year.
However, Oliver says this quickly became a much longer-term undertaking for the organisations involved in the first wave of the programme.
“We realised that it was such a new process for them that they needed another year to start engaging with the opportunities they'd begun to unlock,” she says.
“What we have is a three-year programme where organisations connect in the first year, then deepen their partnerships and relationships with key employers in the second year.
“For the third year, we support them to think about what a sustainable, employability approach looks like and how they will make it work long term once Building Connections is finished.”
Six new youth organisations – in areas ranging from London to the South West – have since begun their first year of the programme.
Each delivery partner is asked to hold an event with £23,000 provided by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, which has a long-standing relationship with the charity.
A local lead is assigned by Coca-Cola to support each partner, often offering the help of its own regional teams to volunteer at events.
These have ranged in size from larger “job fair style” events to smaller, more intimate workshops. One youth organisation has held events that create safe environments for neurodivergent young people and those with disabilities.
By holding these events, delivery partners also fulfil another of the programme's criteria to achieve a certain number of “employability connections” with young people.
“Each youth organisation is funded to run an event which brings young people and employers together in real time but the format and how they want to see it work on the ground is up to them,” says Oliver.
IMPACT
Since 2022, the total number of young people reached by Building Connections is 2,749 of which 1,990 were engaged through employability connections and 759 were reached via events held by delivery partners.
Surveys carried out over the last two years among young people attending Building Connections events show 82% reporting that it had increased their confidence.
Further polls conducted in the last three years that asked young people what had changed for them after attending a Building Connections event, revealed 100% of respondents reporting that their understanding of an aspect of employability had improved.
This could mean, for example, what employers were looking for, the types of jobs they could do or how to get support with finding a job.
Nearly 70% of those surveyed said they had gained a better understanding of how to talk to employers.
