young voices

Mentoring, it’s more than just Volunteering

Drive Forward’s Mentoring Programme has enabled countless care-experienced young people to sustain their employment, progress in their careers, and find success for themselves since 2016. We’ve seen that engaging in a professional mentoring relationship is often crucial to a young person (mentee) who wants to take charge of their professional as well as personal development.

For #NationalMentoringDay, we’re sharing Nahom’s journey with his mentor Joe Welton, Account Manager at Amazon Web Services.

The Key to Change: Work Placements

Care-experienced young people are one of the most vulnerable and overlooked groups in our society. Research has shown that educational attainment, levels of health and well-being and employment prospects are all significantly lower, whilst instances of homelessness or poor mental health are much higher. Despite youth unemployment rates having reduced, there is still an estimated 40% of young care-experienced people who are not in employment, education, or training.

Together with our partners, we are trying to change that by providing ring-fenced employment opportunities to enable these young people to move from care into a career of their own choice.

Creating Career Opportunities: The Civil Service

The Civil Service Care Leaver Internship Scheme provides ring-fenced 12-month paid employment opportunities for care leavers aged 18-30 across the country. With no formal qualifications required, the scheme is a prime example of potential-based recruitment.

This extraordinary initiative has come a long way since the first Drive Forward interns joined the Department for Culture, Media and Sports in 2016. The Civil Service Care Leaver Internship scheme has grown to offer some 500 ring-fenced opportunities to care-experienced young people across the UK annually. With the recent publication of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care calling for at least 3,500 new jobs or apprenticeships, we need more schemes like this! Read more about how you can start a similar scheme in your company!

The 411 on Being A Wunderman Thompson Intern!

Shanelle gives us an insight into working at Wunderman Thompson – a global marketing agency that specialises in growing brands creatively, during her time there as a Strategy Intern!

Work experience not only allows the young people Drive Forward are supporting the chance to unlock their potential and explore their future careers but companies realise there’s a lot to gain by having enthusiastic talent on their side!

Deflated Balloons & Blissful ignorance

I’m going to start by being super blunt. I am mentally drained, physically exhausted and quite frankly tired of the cycle we all seem to be unintentionally engaged in. We are programmed to switch on the news and get up to date with that’s going on around us. We are scheduled to wake up and check our phones in the morning. All of this, yet we never programme ourselves for time out or a minute away from the madness.

Our shared vision

After months of consultations, surveys and working groups Drive Forward’s policy ambassadors are proud to present their manifesto of a shared vision for a better care system. The document is uncompromisingly ambitious and reflective of the priorities, aims and ethos of the Policy Forum. Please get in contact if you are a care experienced person …

Our shared vision Read More »

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