Member Article

Redcar College joins £29m employment scheme

REDCAR & Cleveland College has signed up to a scheme to help tackle youth unemployment and get more young people into work.

Hartlepool Borough Council secured European Funding to launch the £29m Youth Employment Initiative, which aims to provide training opportunities for 15-29 year-old NEETS (people not in education, employment or training) to give them a better chance of finding a job.

More than 30 Teesside organisations are now backing the scheme, which will run until July 2018. The aim is to help 6,500 young people across Teesside move into education, employment, self-employment or training.

As part of the scheme, the Tees Valley Pathways programme has been launched to provide one-to-one support for NEETs to help them develop skills that will enable them to plot a suitable career path. A separate programme, Tees Valley Routeways, will offer employment and training opportunities at companies in key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, construction and logistics.

Redcar & Cleveland College will work with individuals to identify their skills needs and personal strengths so they can move onto training courses that will provide a route to higher education, self-employment or employment.

The key aim of the scheme is to reduce youth unemployment, which remains stubbornly high in the North East of England. The number of 16-24 year-olds out of work in the region jumped 5.6% in the last year, according to the latest Government statistics – one of the biggest rises in the country.

Graeme Wood, project and development manager at Redcar & Cleveland College, said: “Youth unemployment levels are a source of major concern in Teesside and the wider North East. Many young people are struggling to find a career where they can develop their talents.

“The Youth Employment initiative is a positive step forward and as a college we’re delighted to be involved in helping to bridge the skills gap currently faced by so many young people.”

“Our training courses offer a route into a variety of exciting careers, particularly in key growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, digital, logistics, low carbon and health and social care. We also offer great training opportunities to acquire further skills that will ultimately help these NEETs to get a job.

“We’re working with a diverse range of employers so that we can match their skills needs to the attributes of these young people – and tailor our training offer to suit. There’s a lot of talent among the NEET community and as a region we need to utilise that better.”

For further information on Redcar & Cleveland College, please call 01642 473 132 or visit http://www.cleveland.ac.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Redcar & Cleveland College .