It seems that the body of text in last week's blog may have got lost in the either. So, her it is again 

 

 

The objective of our initiative was the coaching of 20 BAME people from across several programmes areas to help them progress on to other mainstream provision – from NEETs, Traineeships, and Apprenticeships, as well as the delayed Talent Match.  

 

So far the work has resulted in the development of new and existing partnerships representing a range of organisations throughout South Yorkshire including other a local University, training providers, supported housing providers, community groups, charities, cultural centres and voluntary organisations. As a result we have exceeded our target of 20 people and are now coaching .

 

Initially the project was to be focused on support to be offered to young people, and although details of Talent Match funding were not announced until early January, we continued with this initial strategy. However, the results of this have been that rather than having a high proportion of younger people, the BAME people who have most needed the support are over 24 years old. This is not specific to our project but is also the experiences of our partner organisations. From discussions with our partners and external research it seems that the reasons for this are inter-related.  The primary factors being the traditional educational path of some ethnic communities and the age groups of those who originally came from Europe from 2004 onwards.

 

One  example of the BAME people that we are currently supporting is Livia.

 

Livia is in her mid thirties and came to the United Kingdom with her husband eight years ago from Slovenia. She has three children under eight years old and, since arriving in the United Kingdom, has never had any paid employment.

At present Livia is a volunteer at a local cultural centre where she undertakes reception and basic admin work. Livia’s ambition is to be able to start an adult Apprenticeship in Business Admin but needs support in her Functional Skills and also coaching in developing her confidence.

Since becoming part of the EDIF^definition initiative Livia’s Literacy skills are improving and she is remembering the English that she learnt at school.  Her confidence and self esteem are building and she believes increasingly in her existing and future abilities. Not surprisingly this has resulted in a happier and enthusiastic person. 

 

We are still looking for young people over 16 and under 20 who are in BAME groups and would benefit from the coaching and support which our project can offer!