Fifteen is known for being founded by Jamie Oliver and for running the eponymous restaurant in east London, which takes in regular batches of 13 to 16 disadvantaged young people and turns out qualified chefs. Black, who has worked there since August 2004, is passionate about giving young people a chance.
The Fifteen restaurant in London launched in 2002. New restaurants have since opened in Amsterdam and, recently, in Cornwall, with another planned for Melbourne. Black says the needs of Cornish young people are very different to the needs of urban young people, for example. "Transportation and housing are a big challenge in Cornwall," he says. "The young people there also tend to be more shy and isolated."
Whichever side of the world they are located, Fifteen's young people follow a similar path. Attending college allows them to gain an NVQ or equivalent, often the first qualification they have ever earned. There's training at Fifteen itself, and work experience in another restaurant.
"That is designed as a reality check," says Black. "It's not all fluffy bunnies out there." They will also go on trips to see where the produce they are handling comes from, and they have sessions with an educational psychologist who helps them get the most out of their experience.
The Fifteen team includes a youth worker who helps the young people deal with any issue they may have. "One young person came here with 12,000 in debts; he still owed money to drug dealers and they came looking for him," says Black. Cannabis use, which Black refers to as "a scourge", is rife among the young people he works with. "It has a zombifying impact on them and you can't be a zombie in the kitchen," he says. Drugs charity In-volve is one of the agencies that refer young people to Fifteen, along with Connexions, Centrepoint, and youth offending teams. While Black is full of admiration for some youth agencies, he is scathing about others.
"The housing of young people is completely crap," he says. "I know they are all underfunded, but we find again and again unreliability and bad manners."
The next project to be launched under the Fifteen Foundation umbrella is Fifteen Ventures. "We are selecting one of our graduates to start up their own business," explains Black. "Four graduates are in the middle of a six-week planning and innovation session: they will visit other businesses, have mentors and receive training to make good pitches."
Fifteen is about restaurants, but Black is adamant that the model could work in any sector: "Engineering, media - it just has to be about focusing on what is right about young people, not what's wrong."
Black's pasta-making conference is called What's Right With These Young People. "It grew out of a fundraising event where Jamie and two young people were making pasta, and I was interested to note that the chief executive of a global company was engaging with the young people as an equal," he says. "We wanted to find a way of allowing young people's voices to be heard. We have already had big shots saying 'I am uncomfortable with that'," he says. "If they are not able to take that little step to come towards our young people, I don't want them."
FYI
- Liam Black is the author of There's No Business Like Social Business
- Before working at Fifteen he was chief executive of the Furniture Resource Group, which creates new opportunities for long-term unemployed people
- What's Right With These Young People is taking place at Channel 4's headquarters on 28 June
(www.policyunplugged.org/wrwtyp).
