Awareness Raising | City & Guilds Foundation

Fair opportunities: employing prison leavers

by Julia Bena | 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...

Breaking down barriers: race inclusion

by Julia Bena | 11 Jun 2021 | Ampersand Awards, Awareness Raising, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Events, News

This guest post is by Miki Tillet, Lead Learning Designer at Kineo. On Wednesday the 2nd of June, I attended the first in a series of I&D events being hosted throughout the month by the City & Guilds Foundation. This event, which was focused on the topic of race inclusion, featured an insightful and thought-provoking conversation between speakers Frank Douglas (CEO of Caerus Executive and C&G Trustee) and Sophie Williams (anti-racism advocate and author of Anti-Racist...

Youth Voices

by Lauren Roberts | 25 May 2021 | Awareness Raising, City & Guilds initiatives, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, News, Youth engagement

It's been a busy few months, with lots of events happening and many opportunities to share mine & the Foundation's views on what we can do to support young people, especially those facing barriers, to engage with employment, now and into their future. Youth Unemployment Committee, House of Lords, 23 March 2021 I was honored to be invited to give evidence at the House of Lords Youth Unemployment Committee in March. I was able to give my views on work experience and the benefits it can have...

Championing degree apprenticeships

by Lauren Roberts | 22 Feb 2021 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, News, Youth engagement

Since their launch in 2015, the interest and uptake of degree apprenticeships has been great. Last month I was invited to speak at Universities UK Degree apprenticeships conference. The agenda was all about responding to the increased interest in degree apprenticeships. We also looked at the unprecedented challenges not only the sector is facing, but UK economy overall and making sure that degree apprenticeships remain high on the agenda. My session focused on raising the profile of this...

Breaking leadership barriers for women

by Julia Bena | 27 Jan 2021 | Awards alumni, Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Events, News

Sharing best practice Members of the Princess Royal Training Awards Alumni network have access to a wide range of benefits including opportunities to network with over 200 forward thinking UK-based organisations and the chance to attend many diverse events and development opportunities. One such virtual event took place on the 3 December when Sue Gammons, former Coaching Director at GSK, presented to 25 Alumni members on how creating a systemic approach to address gender balance led GSK to...

Supporting vulnerable young people to access learning

by Lauren Roberts | 15 Jan 2021 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Digital poverty, News, Youth engagement

The City & Guilds Foundation is acutely aware of the challenges facing learners at all levels across the UK, including the many learners who receive support from our charitable partners or directly through the Foundation’s bursary programme. We applaud efforts being made by the UK Government and charities across the country to make the hardware necessary for online learning available to those in need, this support must continue to be rolled out with utmost urgency if we are to...

It’s time to act on digital exclusion

by Lauren Roberts | 4 Dec 2020 | Awareness Raising, Charity partners, Digital poverty, News, Youth engagement

Last month I was invited to speak at the Apprenticeship Diversity & Social Mobility Forum, which aims to bring together leading figures in diversity and inclusion, and experts on social mobility. The series of three annual events was organised by one of our newest partners, the BAME Apprenticeships Alliance, a community of organisations who support diversity in the workplace through policy and advocacy. The...

Bringing employability into the classroom

by Lauren Roberts | 5 Oct 2020 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Charity partners, News, Our networks, Youth engagement

Our youth engagement work aims to take a practical approach in informing and helping young people, especially those at risk of becoming NEET, to make more informed choices about their future. One of the biggest barriers young people face when entering the world of work is adapting and settling into a working environment. By giving students the chance to meet employers while still in the classroom setting, we aim to bridge the gap between schools providing support for academic success and...

You can’t be what you can’t see: helping all girls find role models to succeed

by Julia Bena | 1 Oct 2020 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Charity partners, Critical transition points, Funding, News, Our networks, Youth engagement

Conversations with professionals and experience in workplaces is the single most effective intervention at changing stereotypical expectations about future careers. Helping young people understand the job opportunities available to them is something we’re passionate about at the City & Guilds Foundation. That’s why we’re proud to support The Girls’ Network, a charity that matches female mentors from non-graduate pathways with girls from the least advantaged communities in the UK. So far,...

Shifting Skills

by Laura Mountain | 1 Oct 2020 | Awareness Raising, Critical transition points, Funding, Our networks

There’s no doubt that coronavirus has hit the workforce hard; around 4 million people across the UK expected to be unemployed by the end of the year. And our Recovery and Resilience research found that people in lower socio-economic groups are most at risk. Skills Bridges To help people without a job, or those working in sectors that are suffering from major cutbacks, City & Guilds has partnered with leading social learning platform FutureLearn to create a Skills Bridge programme....