We have now made grants for the Moving on Up Special Initiative, which is jointly funded by the City of London Corporation’s charity, City Bridge Trust. The initiative is designed to help to increase the employment rates of young black men in London.
Grants have been made to:
Action Acton (£120,100)
The Trust provided funding to establish the Roots Recruitment Agency, which will pilot innovative employment services for ‘job ready’ young black men, to tackle the barriers to employment. The project will provide personalised, professional job search support in conjunction with active engagement with employers to source job opportunities.
Elevations Networks Trust (£132,000)
The Trust provided funding for the Lambeth 360* project, an employability programme for young black men aged 16-24 who are actively seeking work. 360* will comprise of a ‘job-readiness’ training course and a mentoring circle made up of a senior leader and employee from a leading recruiter. The courses will run in partnership with Business in the Community’s Race for Opportunity and JobCentre Plus across the borough of Lambeth.
Hackney Council for Voluntary Service (£118,230)
The Trust provided funding to support a local Partnership that will provide an innovative approach to getting young black men closest to the labour market, into employment through provision of: youth-led motivational workshops; community-based employment support aimed at building confidence and employability skills and; linkage to local black-led business networks and mentoring opportunities.
London Youth (£119,000)
The Trust provided funding to expand and replicate the Build-it construction-skills employability programme for young people. The on-the-job experience and personalised support it provides, and the targeted communities in which the project runs, result in strong employability outcomes for young black men.
Making the Leap (£113,040)
The Trust provided funding towards working with 100 young black men who have achieved some level of academic attainment, to put them through a Future-skills programme. This will provide individual career coaching and assistance to pass psychometrics tests to enable at least 50 of them to progress into a life-changing career.
Step Ahead (£147,680)
The Trust has provided funding to engage with 150 young black men on a focused support programme delivered by the partnership, including work with employers, resulting in 75 into paid jobs of which 60 are sustained (6 months plus) by tackling negative perceptions surrounding this cohort.
In addition, a further £288,410 has been invested in the Initiative. This includes a grant to Black Training and Enterprise Group to undertake policy and learning work; a contract with The Social Innovation Partnership/Project Oracle to support the evaluation of the Initiative; and an Internship Programme which will be open to Initiative groups to employ paid interns for 6-9 months.