£1.2million funding granted to help Street League end youth unemployment

Street League has received £1.2million funding from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery to help the charity to reduce youth unemployment in the UK. With 857,000 16-24 year olds in the UK who are not in work, education or training, this vital funding will be used to expand Street League’s award-winning programmes that have a proven track record of getting young people into jobs. 

Youth unemployment is not a new issue; finding a first job and starting a career has always been difficult and charities like Street League are essential to support those who are most in need. Whilst the overall youth unemployment figure has seen a huge drop in the past five years, the UK has recently seen an increase in the number of 16-24 year olds who are not in education, work or training, resulting in fears that opportunities for young people might be suffering in the aftermath of Brexit. With these latest figures, young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the working population. As well as being a tragedy for young people who are likely to suffer from the significant physical and mental health consequences of unemployment, this is also a worrying sign for the overall UK economy.

 

The charity aims to support 1,685 young people into employment, education or training this year, which is 31% more than the previous year. This new funding will help the charity to engage with 200 unemployed young people that they could not have otherwise supported, with at least 146 expected to progress into work, training or education.

Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery said: “Street League is a leading charity in helping to end youth unemployment across the UK. What makes Street League different is its focus on the young people who have the most obstacles to getting into work, and the unique way they use sport to re-engage young people who did not succeed in traditional education. The charity’s ultimate goal is to end youth unemployment and so it is focussed on finding the right opportunity for each individual young person and supporting them to keep it while improving their health.”

 

Matt Stevenson-Dodd, CEO of Street League said: “This generous funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery will allow us to increase our impact significantly. We will be launching a new range of programmes in Dundee, a new city for Street League, which has the highest rate of youth unemployment in Scotland. We will also be using this funding across the UK to expand beyond our existing football and dance-fitness programmes into a new fitness programme which will help us to engage with a broader range of young people while improving their health on a 1-2-1 level.”

 Sources

1: House of Commons Briefing Paper Number SN 06705, 30 November 2016

2: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/24/uk-rise-neets-not-in-education-employment-or-training-brexit 

About Street League

·       Street League is the UK’s leading sport for employment charity with a vision to see an end to youth unemployment in the UK.

·       The charity offers 8-12 week sport and work skills programmes to unemployed 16-24 year olds who face significant obstacles to moving into work. On the programme the young people take part in daily health and fitness activities including football, dance, and fitness, and then spend time developing personalised action plans with one-to-one mentoring support, employability qualifications, CV skills and interview training. They take part in work placement opportunities before moving into jobs, college courses, apprenticeships or further training.

·       In 2015-16, Street League supported 1281 young people into employment, education or training with 55% (387/710) of them sustaining their jobs for more than six-months.

·       Operating UK-wide in 14 cities and 36 local communities, Street League currently employs 130 staff and the new funding will enable the charity to recruit new staff for Dundee and the fitness programmes across the UK.

·       Street League have been supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery since December 2015, most recently being awarded an additional £600,000 in December 2016.

For more information contact: Sara McCraight, Head of Marketing 07788 312853 [email protected]. 

Visit www.streetleague.co.uk for more information and www.streetleague.co.uk/annual-report to see the charities latest impact statistics.