Earlier this year, the City & Guilds Foundation Committee approved £100k of funding to support organisations and individuals who are facing the fallout to their vital services / employment challenges due to Covid-19. Our purpose is all about helping people to develop their skills and our Foundation aims to remove barriers to getting a job, celebrate best practice on the job and to advocate for jobs of the future.
We have been working hard to identify high impact interventions to support our networks. We’re delighted to share with you how the funding has been allocated so far.
Emergency funding for charities in the Princess Royal Training Awards network
Helping Resurgo to train and employ two new coaches.
Resurgo specialise in coaching and mentoring individuals who are most disadvantaged in our communities. During the first lockdown, they had to pause their programmes and rewrite their content to be able to deliver their services remotely. Due to the increased demand for support from individuals in disadvantaged communities, they needed to train and recruit new coaching staff quickly. Thanks to our funding two individuals will complete an accreditation programme, allowing them to start employment with Resurgo in 2021.
Supporting Snow-Camp to develop social care and employability skills.
Snow-Camp provide a series of snow-sports training programmes that enable young people to build relationships, whilst providing them with the skills and qualifications they need to lead safe and positive lives. All of their programmes are co-delivered by young people working as apprentices and volunteers who support their Programme Managers. In light of Covid-19, our funding is supporting Snow-Camp to offer advanced workshops and mental health training to youth workers so they can work with young people more effectively. The three main outcomes of the training are:
- To build positive routines for young people
- To create stronger support networks
- To improve young people’s aspirations for the future post Covid-19
Unlocking access to careers in construction through CAIS
Operating across Wales, CAIS help people who have problems with addictions, mental health, personal development and employment. They offer a comprehensive range of training courses to enable people to develop their skills and get into work. CAIS work closely with a network of construction employers who are interested in offering jobs to CAIS clients – if they have the right credentials. To work on a construction site, individuals need to complete the Construction Skills Certification Scheme and obtain the CSCS card. Our funding is enabling 50 individuals to complete the scheme and enter the labour market.
Supporting Reprezent to train and employ a less privileged young person in the media industry.
The funding is allowing Brixton youth-led radio station to offer a part-time job and complete development programme to a young person in need from their current group of talented young support volunteers. In this once in a lifetime opportunity the individual will gain industry-specific training and tangible experience in the media industry. They will also engage in periodic career development sessions receiving dedicated support in media-specific job search, CV writing and applications. They’ll also receive mentoring and support from inspirational peers from Reprezent’s roster who have achieved success at the BBC and Apple Music.
Upskilling The Haven Wolverhampton‘s refuge workers with a Level 4 High Risk Domestic Abuse Victims and Survivors qualification.
The Haven Wolverhampton supports women and dependent children who are vulnerable to domestic violence, homelessness and abuse.
With domestic violence figures rising due to Covid-19 lockdowns, the work of this charity is more important than ever. With 4 refuges for women and children across Wolverhampton, the charity identified a need to upskill more frontline workers in order to continue to deliver essential services to an increasing number of beneficiaries. This qualification doesn’t currently exist in the West Midlands and we’re honoured that its development will enable local social workers to support their clients more efficiently.
Connectr – shifting peer-mentoring online
A grant to St Giles to help them build the new Connectr platform.
The St Giles’ Connectr platform, built by My Kinda Future, was created to support the development of their Peer Adviser programme and to aid their immediate response to Covid-19. The Connectr Platform allows Peer Advisers to:
- Be inducted and prepared for the programme itself
- Share good practice and learn with each other virtually
- Seek support from Peers around the country for problem solving and specialist advice to assist their own case work.
Individual grants to switch careers through our bursary scheme
We supported 8 individuals with bursaries to help them gain new qualifications, ultimately enabling them to make a career change from one sector to another. The 4 individuals were all impacted by Covid-19 and left needing to reskill. One individual wanted to move into the health and social care sector because of the demand for more employees during the peak of the pandemic. Another was forced to leave the hospitality sector because of redundancy and wanted to reskill as an electrician. We wish all bursary recipients a successful career transition! Read more about our bursary programme
As with all projects and partnerships supported by the Foundation, the social impact of the each of the interventions we’ve funded will be mapped against our framework.
Our Recovery and Resilience report – found that people from lower socio-economic groups were less likely to believe they have the support needed to get a new job in the pandemic. The report found that affordability was a key blocker, preventing people from undertaking vital training to get back into employment. Delivering funding programmes like ours has never been more important.