Polly Rowe | City & Guilds Foundation

City & Guilds Foundation funds Breakthrough to support prison leavers into apprenticeships in innovative new partnership

by Polly Rowe | 8 Feb 2023 | Campaigning, News, Prisoners and ex-offenders

The City & Guilds Foundation and Breakthrough, the UK’s first apprenticeship provider to recruit directly from prisons, have entered a new partnership to support prison leavers into employment. Founded in March 2020, Breakthrough was the first charity to focus on delivering pre-apprenticeship training in prison and technology apprenticeships on release. And for the first time, from October 2022 the government has allowed prisoners to start apprenticeships in prison – this could be...

Belfast Met: The Ripple Effect of receiving a Princess Royal Training Award

by Polly Rowe | 16 Dec 2022 | Case studies, Princess Royal Training Awards

Lee Marley Brickwork: The Ripple Effect of receiving a Princess Royal Training Award

by Polly Rowe | 16 Dec 2022 | Case studies, Princess Royal Training Awards

City & Guilds Foundation and Gower College Swansea launch innovative £100k project to support at risk young people into secure employment

by Polly Rowe | 8 Sep 2022 | Critical transition points, Funding, News, Our networks, Youth engagement

The City & Guilds Foundation and Gower College Swansea have entered into a new strategic partnership to support learners at risk of dropping out of education, overcome barriers and find positive ways to gain skills and enduring work. The funding will put up to 200 young people through a Transition & Engagement support programme, designed to raise aspirations and help disadvantaged and disengaged learners to develop and enhance existing skills to prepare them for the world of work. The...

How we’re supporting St Giles to change lives by investing in vital training

by Polly Rowe | 14 Jul 2022 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Funding, News, Prisoners and ex-offenders

St Giles is a London-based charity that helps people create a better future for themselves, and they’ve been an active part of our Foundation network for over five years. The charity works with people to overcome poverty, exploitation, abuse, addiction, mental health problems, crime or a combination of these issues. And a significant number of its peer advisors are people who have overcome their own struggles – often through St Giles’ own programmes. The peer advisors then use their ‘lived...

No Going Back: City & Guilds Foundation supports The Livery Company initiative

by Polly Rowe | 2 Mar 2022 | Charity partners, Livery companies, News, Prisoners and ex-offenders

There are few occasions since setting up City & Guilds some 144 years ago when the Livery Companies have worked together towards a single objective. And that’s why we’re delighted that through the City & Guilds Foundation we’re able to support the new and exciting Livery ‘No Going Back’ initiative supporting offender rehabilitation. At the City & Guilds Foundation supporting the rehabilitation of offenders and former offenders has been a priority for some time. We recognise that...

Event: Leading Through Values

by Polly Rowe | 24 Jan 2022 | City & Guilds initiatives, Events, News

Let’s talk about values in leadership In October 2021, ILM published Leading through Values, a report researching the importance of values. The report features case studies from a number of businesses, exploring what values mean for them, how values are being brought to life in everyday operations and how they've withstood the challenges faced during the pandemic. Read the Executive Summary. We discovered that company values are an integral part of their leadership models and ultimately...

[Podcast] Inclusion & Diversity Series: Gender Diversity – a women’s panel

by Polly Rowe | 19 Nov 2021 | Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Events, Podcasts

As part of the City & Guilds Foundation Inclusion and diversity events series, offering thought-provoking conversations and actionable steps to promote equal opportunities and improve inclusion and diversity in your organisation. In this event we explored gender diversity and women inclusion in male-dominated industries. Women have made substantial progress in business and leadership positions. But many STEM-related fields are still resistant to gender diversity. How can...

Fair opportunities: employing prison leavers

by Polly Rowe | 18 Jun 2021 | Awareness Raising, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Events, News, Prisoners and ex-offenders

This guest post is by Miki Tillet, Lead Learning Designer at Kineo. The second in a series of I&D events hosted by the City & Guilds Foundation went live on Tuesday the 8th of June, this time focusing on inclusion in the context of employing people with lived experience of the justice system. This event featured guest speakers Surini Ranawake of the New Futures Network, James Timpson of Timpson Group, and Claire Wood of Deloitte. In case you missed it, you can catch up in full...

A partnership that’s making a real difference, to real people

by Polly Rowe | 21 May 2021 | Charity partners, Funding, News, Prisoners and ex-offenders, Social Impact

The City & Guilds Foundation and The Educators’ Trust have teamed up to provide mental health first aid training for a team of advisors delivering vital services to vulnerable young people. The training which also includes essential digital skills will be delivered through St Giles – a charity using expertise and real-life past experiences to empower people who are not getting the help they need. People held back by poverty, exploited, abused, dealing with addiction or mental health...