Our Youth Development Worker supported young people aged 16-24 with volunteering, training and employment signposting and opportunities
When? 2019
Partners: VANEL. Jobcentre.
Stride was a programme created by VANEL and part-funded by Big Local North Cleethorpes with a focus on 16-24 year olds living in the Big Local area of North Cleethorpes.
The programme was created as part of the youth focus of Big Local North Cleethorpes when it was clear that there were young people of this age group who needed some guidance with their next steps.
Jasmin Flint was the Big Local North Cleethorpes/VANEL Youth Development Worker and it was her role to support young people to assess their needs and both signpost them onto the support that would work for them, but also to tailor the support in a much more directed manner that suited each individual.
This meant that for the short duration of the programme we were not able to reach large numbers of young people, but rather, we would worker deeper and more individually with each one.
Key referrals came from the local Jobcentre. Jasmin herself was young and had plenty of experience supporting others through the previous Springboard programme. She was able to work creatively with a number of young people to move them onto their next steps.
A Stride Case Study
Nick (names have been changed) is a 21 year old who came to STRIDE after being unemployed since college and feeling ready to look for employment. During Nicks first appointment we created a CV and then looked to identify what the barriers were to him finding employment. He felt most worried about public transport and lack of training, so with the support of STRIDE over several weeks we took bus journeys together. Over a period of time Nick became more confident until eventually he was planning the journeys for us to do together and referring to bus timetables for planning. He became comfortable with buses and even turned up after getting the bus himself from home to his appointment. This was a massive achievement!
Now feeling comfortable with public transport, after exploring options such as a return into education or an apprenticeship for work based learning, Nick decided to engage in a distance learning course in Customer Service Level 2 at Grimsby Institute, so I accompanied him there to find out more. Nick was advised that there would be no cost if he completed the course and he needed only his Maths and English – both of which he had. The course would take him roughly 3 months to complete. He agreed on the day that he wanted to start it, so completed the sign up paperwork.
During our STRIDE appointments we made sure his work was progressing and he was going to meet his deadlines. He completed it all within 11 weeks and got a pass! He then felt like he wanted to put his newly learnt knowledge into practice but wasn’t sure if he was ready to find employment so, we discussed volunteering. Nick seemed keen as he felt there would be less pressure as a volunteer than and employee so with the support of VANEL we found a suitable organisation for Nick to work with. This gave Nick the courage to ask me to start helping him apply for jobs. Nick managed to get an interview for one of the positions he had applied for, so together we prepared for an interview and, as this was his first, we had two mock interviews and practised common interview questions. Interview day came and Nick felt confident, after his interview he called me and said he felt it went well. The following day he received a call: he had been successful and got the job!
