Campaigning | City & Guilds Foundation

IBM Bootcamps: Free Training for the Next Generation of Tech Talent

by Stuart Tucker | 5 May 2023 | Digital poverty, Foundation Collective, News, Resources

IBM is offering a series of free bootcamps to help people develop the skills they need for in-demand tech jobs. The bootcamps are open to anyone, regardless of experience or background. What are the bootcamps about? The bootcamps cover a variety of topics, including: Data analytics IT tech support Front-end web development Each bootcamp is 10 weeks long and includes both online and in-person instruction. Learners will also have access to a community of mentors and coaches who can help them...

Delivering Green Skills Training with Greenworkx and Catch22

by Stuart Tucker | 3 May 2023 | Bursaries, Charity partners, Critical transition points, Funding, Green skills, News, Prisoners and ex-offenders

The City & Guilds Foundation is pleased to announce two new partnerships with Greenworkx and Catch22 to deliver green skills training. The partnerships will provide training and support to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds develop the skills they need to work in the green economy. Greenworkx is a climate EdTech startup that is tackling the green skills emergency and building the net-zero workforce. Their mission is to get 10 million people into green jobs in 10 years. They are...

Unlocking a Waiting Workforce: launching the refugee recruitment toolkit in partnership with The Launchpad Collective

by Stuart Tucker | 17 Apr 2023 | Awareness Raising, Charity partners, News, Refugee support, Resources

There is a whole waiting workforce among our refugee population in the UK, yet many companies may not realise the benefits of hiring refugees as part of their recruitment strategy. That's why we've partnered with The Launchpad Collective to bring you an Employer Toolkit e-module called 'Unlocking a Waiting Workforce'. The Employer Toolkit is an engaging e-module created by Kineo that is designed to help businesses successfully hire and integrate people with refugee backgrounds into their...

Celebrating our first carbon literacy training participants

by Julia Bena | 29 Mar 2023 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, City & Guilds initiatives, News, News & events

Between November and February, 28 colleagues across City & Guilds were invited to be involved in a pilot for Carbon Literacy Training and we are delighted that all have now received their Carbon Literacy accreditation. To be Carbon Literate means taking actionable steps towards tackling the climate emergency, feeling confident in communicating on this topic to our customers and stakeholders, and doing all that we can to mitigate the effects of climate change within our industry and...

Heritage Crafts Awards 2023 now open

by Stuart Tucker | 27 Mar 2023 | Awards, Campaigning, Charity partners, Heritage crafts, News

The Heritage Crafts Awards are now open with six brand new awards for 2023. The Awards, which have been running since 2012, celebrate and highlight the traditional living crafts that contribute to British heritage. New Awards this year include a new Lifetime Achievement Award supported by the Marsh Christian Trust, to recognise a heritage craftsperson who has demonstrated an outstanding contribution to their specific craft over 25 years or more. The Award celebrates a lifetime’s dedication to...

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 MBE | 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...