A Year in YES | Leicestershire Cares

This past year we have been extremely busy on the YES (Youth Employability Support) Project supporting and empowering young people. This year alone we have worked with and engaged 71 young people including 56 new ones!

Below are just some of the amazing things we have accomplished together with young people, volunteers and businesses from July 2018 to June 2019.

We supported six young people to secure work placements across various sectors including, Leicester City Council Bereavement Services (x3), Ford & Slater, Gorse Hill Farm and Voluntary Action Leicestershire (The GREAT Project). In addition to these, we also supported three young people to gain voluntary opportunities with LOROS, Leicestershire Cares and Two Queens Gallery.

Our Young Person continues to volunteer with the GREAT Project and is loving it. Her work is even used in board meetings.

Bereavement Services LCC Work Placement.JPG — Just some of our participants enjoying their work placements with Leicester City Council Bereavement Services.

Work placements are a great opportunity for young people to gain valuable experience and for some to narrow down or confirm career choices. They also build on and gain invaluable employment skills.

“My work placement helped me hone in on my desired career path.”
Ârena Gordon, Young Person on YES

We also organised nine World of Work Tours at Sytner (x2), BBC Birmingham (x2), Thermo Fisher Scientific, East Midlands Airport, Kettleby Foods and Walker & Son. 79 young people attended these tours with over 85% feeding back that they found these useful.

World of Work tours are a fantastic opportunity for young people to learn more about the workplace and consider careers they haven’t before. These past tours have resulted in young people actively seeking more information about possible career choices, securing work placements and applying for jobs, including the company they toured.

Kettleby Foods, March 2019. Young people toured the bakery, heard from employees about their roles and upcycled left over ready meal packaging.

BBC Birmingham, March 2019. Participants watched a live radio broadcast, participated in their own radio drama and saw behind the scenes of television and radio.

Sytner Audi Tour, March 2019. Participants heard from staff about the various roles available at Sytner as well as participate in an employability exercise. Staff kindly let our young people have a feel of all their cars in the showroom.

World of Work tours have given me an insight into a number of different careers I never considered before.
Young Person on YES Project

So, what has this all achieved?

This has all contributed to 14 young people securing employment, 14 entering education or training opportunities and another 17 young people actively job searching! Moreover, it has inspired several young people to reach their full potential and make the most of their opportunities. Let’s keep up the hard work!