Campaigning | City & Guilds Foundation

Supporting young carers in employment

by Lauren Roberts | 15 Mar 2023 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Charity partners, Events, Lived Experience, News, Youth engagement

Young carers provide unpaid care and support to family members or friends who have a disability, illness, mental health condition, or substance misuse problem. According to our partners the Carers Trust there were 177,918 young carers in England and Wales at the last census and additionally there are 29,000 young carers in Scotland. However, this is widely believed to be the tip of the iceberg, with some estimates suggesting that as many as one in five schoolchildren are young carers...

Applications for Cockpit September intake now open including six funded places

by Stuart Tucker | 13 Mar 2023 | Bursaries, Charity partners, Heritage crafts, News, Our networks

For over 30 years, Cockpit has provided funded and subsidised studio spaces for talented craftspeople in London, along with in-house business support and coaching. Applications are now open for our September intake, with a number of funded places you can apply for listed below. The deadline for applications is 11th April. The Radcliffe Emerging Maker Award is for a maker from any craft discipline who has already reached a level of excellence in skill and is looking to take their practice to...

Launching our Neurodiversity Index report

by Jennifer Warner | 10 Mar 2023 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Neurodiversity, News

Back in 2019 the City & Guilds Foundation was established to really amplify City & Guilds’ purpose and particularly focus on supporting individuals who face significant barriers in developing their skills. Over the past 3 years we have supported a range of people including Prisoners, ex-offenders, care leavers, refugees and young people at risk of becoming NEET. What was becoming more and more obvious when we were talking to some of our charity partners in these spaces was the common...

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...

£150k of funding to grass root charities who are supporting the refugee community

by Faiza Khan | 1 Feb 2023 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, News, Refugee support

Like most organisations, we were incredibly distressed to see what was happening in Ukraine earlier this year. Given the City & Guilds Foundation’s focus on supporting people who face barriers to develop skills, we knew we had to do something to support not only Ukrainian refugees, but the wider refugee population too. Over the past six months, my teams have been working behind the scenes to understand the real situation faced by refugees, and to identify organisations who we could partner...

Gower College update: £100k project to support at risk young people into secure employment funded by the City & Guilds Foundation

by Stuart Tucker | 12 Jan 2023 | Critical transition points, Funding, News, Our networks, Youth engagement

In this video, Gower College Swansea gives an update on the progress of our 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 is aiming to 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. You...

Reflecting on our achievements in 2022

by Justine Procter | 14 Dec 2022 | Bursaries, Charity partners, City & Guilds initiatives, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Funding, Lived Experience, News, Our networks, Princess Royal Training Awards, Prisoners and ex-offenders, Refugee support, Resources, Responsible Business, Social Impact, Youth engagement

As the end of 2022 fast approaches, the team at the City & Guilds Foundation took some time to reflect and share their top highlights and achievements from the last year and moments to be proud of. Laura Mountain “Thinking about what we’ve collectively achieved over the past year, it is really incredible and just goes to show what you can do with brilliant, passionate people who constantly pull together – and challenge each other – to do the best they can. A particular highlight for me has...

Demonstrating the impact of outstanding training with The Princess Royal Training Awards class of 2022

by Mike Ormand | 9 Dec 2022 | Awards alumni, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Events, News, Princess Royal Training Awards

This year 46 organisations came together at London’s Banqueting House on Tuesday 6th December to be personally congratulated on stage by HRH The Princess Royal, alongside Chief Executive of City & Guilds, Kirstie Donnelly MBE and Chair of City & Guilds, Dame Ann Limb.

Interview with Jordan Stevenson, City & Guilds Diversity & Inclusion Lead for Product

by Lauren Roberts | 17 Nov 2022 | City & Guilds initiatives, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, News

We caught up with Jordan to find out more about how we are changing the way we design products at City & Guilds to make sure everyone – whatever their background – has the best opportunity to succeed. As a Foundation, we are dedicated to removing barriers for people who to gain skills and get into work, so we are hopeful that this innovative, thoughtful, and practical activity will make a big difference – especially for those who are underrepresented and with less advantage. What inspired...

City & Guilds launches Specific Learning Difficulties tool for trainers

by Mike Ormand | 10 Oct 2022 | Awareness Raising, City & Guilds initiatives, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, News, Resources

This guest post is by Jordan Stevenson, the Diversity and Inclusion Product Lead at City & Guilds City & Guilds, in partnership with the Education Training Foundation: SEND excellence gateway, are launching a series of tools to support inclusive learning. This project was run as part of our Inclusive Curriculum Framework work at City & Guilds, to equip our trainers to confidently support students with disabilities. Being able to effectively support learners with disabilities in the...