Investing in our young people - end of year update

Photo provided by The Prince’s Trust, taken from their Enterprise programme in Scotland.

Investing in our young people - end of year update

With the world still in the grips of the covid pandemic, and all of its consequences for our society and economy, 2021 has been a difficult year for all of us. Once again young people growing up in disadvantaged communities are amongst the worst affected. Despite a surge in job vacancies across the UK, the number of long-term unemployed young people has remained largely stagnant, indicating that those who are furthest from the jobs market are not feeling this boost in opportunity. Isolated communities remain amongst the hardest hit, making support of The Prince's Trust's work in the North of Scotland even more important.

This year Wildland choose to support the work of two nationally-recognised leaders in education support for children and young people, The Prince’s Trust and Young Enterprise Scotland. By funding both organisations to set up new programmes in schools and communities across the north of Scotland, our goal is to increase the range of opportunities for young people to build resilience and reach their full potential.

With the first term of the school year close to completion, we are delighted to share the following update from The Prince’s Trust;

Meg’s Story

“Meg, from Lairg in the Highlands, lives at home with her two young children. Before getting in touch with The Prince's Trust, she had been a stay-at-home mum for four years. She wanted to find a way of earning a living that would enable her to work around childcare, as well as balancing her own health needs as a sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis.

Meg came to The Trust with a view to starting a business that makes and sells children’s wellington boot liners. She wanted help to realise the business and grow her knowledge of things like finance, accountancy and marketing.

After a few sessions with one of our Prince's Trust Youth Workers, Meg attended The Prince’s Trust's online four-day Explore Enterprise programme to build her business knowledge. She began to grow in confidence and her passion for her idea started to shine through. The programme also gave her the opportunity to network with other aspiring young entrepreneurs, helping Meg to realise that her product could have wider appeal beyond children.

Working with a mentor, she began to conduct market research and network with other business owners in the textile industry across Scotland. She also started to contact platforms and retailers that might be interested in the selling her products.

Thanks to the support provided by Anders and Wildland, Meg received a micro-grant to purchase the materials needed to make full samples of her product and ensure she has the correct labelling. She's now collecting feedback from potential clients about her product. Without this funding, Meg wouldn't have been able to get this off the ground, and she's now well on the way to making her business a success.”

An Update on the Enterprise Programme

With your support, our team in the North East, Highlands and Islands have supported 80 young people to explore self-employment between April and November, well exceeding our target of supporting 60 aspiring entrepreneurs with your funding this year. So far, 27 have received a microgrant or start-up grant to launch their businesses, or 33.75% of all participants. That means the Enterprise programme in the North of Scotland is well ahead of our national average of 1 in 5 participants becoming self-employed.

An Update on the Achieve Programme

Achieve offers young people the opportunity to develop their practical skills, ambitions for future employment and self-employment and enrichment opportunities outside of the classroom.

43 schools in the North East, Highlands and Islands of Scotland are now delivering Achieve - an increase of 12 since September. In total, our team in the region have recruited 16 new schools to deliver the programme so far this year, and are also in conversation with an additional 16 schools who are looking to commence delivery between January and March 2022.

So far, 542 young people have been supported through Achieve Clubs in these schools, and we are forecasting to support at least a further 100 between January and March, which would take us up to almost 650 young people supported in the region this year. Thank you so much for helping us to grow the programme beyond our expectations.

In the Highland Local Authority, we have maintained our partnerships with the three schools mentioned in your last report: Wick High School, Farmer Jones Academy and Tain Royal Academy. We are getting ready to launch Achieve in Culloden Academy, east of Inverness, in the New Year. Additionally, we are in promising conversations with Dornoch Academy, Gairloch High School, Grantown Grammar School and Kinlochleven High School - all of whom are hoping to begin delivery between January and March 2022. As you know, Highland was key area for us to grow our work in and we are pleased to be in contact with an attainment officer who is keen to explore how we work together in the Highlands to reach more schools.

"When I first started on the Achieve programme, I was really shy. I struggled to put across my opinions to the class, and wasn't very confident about speaking up at all.

Achieve Club has helped me to overcome that and I feel like I've gained new confidence and teamwork skills."

A young person from Anderson High, Shetland

“Our sincerest thanks, as ever, for the support that you've given.

It has formed the bedrock of our activity in the North East, Highlands and Islands and I very much hope that we can develop our partnership in 2022.”

Fraser Davidson, Head of Principal Giving, The Prince's Trust