Fairbridge
Fairbridge works with 13-25 year olds in some of the most disadvantaged areas in the UK. Many lack support from their family, they are on the margins of their local community and many have never undertaken formal employment.
Fairbridge provides these young people with training to help them re-engage in the workplace or the classroom. The organisation runs a programme of challenging activities and personal support that teaches young people how to harness their strengths and realise their potential.
The Anglo American Group Foundation has supported Fairbridge since 2006, enabling the charity to run skills training and personal development courses for young people. With the most recent grant from the Foundation, twenty young people in the London area attended an intensive four-week training course, Learn2Earn.
The course was designed to increase the motivation, personal and social skills of the participants through direct practical experience of running a business; this in turn significantly improved their employability skills. First, training modules were provided in areas including profit and loss, supply and demand, business ethics, record-keeping and customer services. Then the young people were given a stall to run at a London market, where they took responsibility for all aspects of the business including buying stock from wholesalers, setting up the stall and attracting customers.
The programme has now been in operation for five years. Nearly two thirds of the young people on last year’s course went on to participate in higher education, training or volunteering. Continuing support from the Anglo American Group Foundation enables Fairbridge to help many more young people in this way.
To find out more please visit www.fairbridge.org.uk/
Registered charity number: 206807
