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Mike Clare and The Clare Foundation Changing Young Lives with The Prince's Trust - October 2022

Dear Mike,

I am delighted to share with you an update on the impact your support has had on young lives in Buckinghamshire.

You will see from the below, that as we continue to emerge from the pandemic, our young people are facing greater challenges than ever before, with youth mental health becoming a growing area of need. But in spite of these challenges, 71% of the young people who completed The Prince’s Trust programmes last year moved on to positive outcomes, including jobs, training or further education. These fantastic outcomes are made possible by the generous contributions of supporters like you, and for that, I would like to extend my very grateful thanks.

With best wishes,

Sallie May

The Landscape for Young People 2021-2022

1 in 5 young people in South East England say they will never recover from the emotional impact of the pandemic.

The 2022 Prince’s Trust NatWest Youth Index report has revealed that the happiness and confidence of 16 to 25-year-olds has hit the lowest point in its 13-year history. The annual survey, which measures the well-being of young people against a number of themes, paints a stark picture of the difficulties they continue to face. The Youth Index findings suggest that the pandemic threatens to be a scar for life on this generation, with a downward spiral of anxiety, stress and poor confidence caused by concerns about the current economic climate, missing out on work or education opportunities, and being unable to see family and friends.

The effects of lock-down appear to have directly impacted young people’s attitudes towards their futures, with almost a quarter (18%) of young people in the South East surveyed feeling like they will fail in life. Of those who have missed out on work and education due to the pandemic:

The overall confidence and happiness that young people feel differs according to their varying personal circumstances and identities. The survey reveals that the young people whose confidence has been hit the hardest are those who were already facing adversity before the pandemic. Unemployment, a lack of qualifications, financial insecurity and being from a Black, Asian or Other minority ethnic background or community are all factors that can contribute to a lower Index score. For example, young people who did not achieve more than five GCSEs graded A to C are more likely to experience lower levels of happiness and confidence than those who did.

Along with our Youth Index research, other findings suggest that under-30s pay the highest price for the UK’s cost-of-living crisis by bearing the brunt of Covid, inflation and student debt. Our most recent report, Power of Potential, has reaffirmed that if given the right support almost half a million unemployed young people have the opportunity to start work. Additionally, 38% of young people not in work said that support to build upon their confidence would be of significant help when securing employment.

It is clear from our research that without any action, the damning repercussions of Covid-19 will not only impact young people today, but their families and generations to come, with those facing the greatest adversity likely to experience the worst. At this crucial time, The Trust must continue to support as many young people as possible to gain confidence and a renewed faith in society so that they feel empowered to not only succeed in life but to enjoy it. By continuing our work and delivering a lifeline that we believe every young person deserves, we are one step closer to ensuring that the threats of our Youth Index report do not become a stark reality.

The Class of Covid

Living through a pandemic has been devastating for young people - crippling their self-confidence and robbing them of their futures. It has impacted their education, social lives and options for work, with those already facing disadvantage being left even further behind.

Thank you for helping us support more and more young people every day and providing them with a brighter future towards reaching their potential. Please watch the video below to see how the Prince's Trust is there for the next generation during this challenging time.

The Prince's Trust 2021-2022

Since founded, The Prince’s Trust has helped more than a million young people across the UK, with three in four of those we have supported over the last five years moving into work, education, or training. Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, we have supported over 61,000 young people through our programmes during 2021-2022.

At The Prince’s Trust, our mission remains unchanged and more important than ever to achieve, as we continue to be there for young people at this critical moment. Through our programmes, young people have the chance to rebuild their confidence and self-esteem, connecting them to opportunities that might otherwise have been beyond their reach. We support young people to reengage with education, to help them find employment and empower young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. By offering an alternative support network for young people, through positive role models and mentors, we are determined to make a real difference to their confidence, aspirations, and sense of purpose.

Many of the young people who ask for our support are facing significant barriers in life. 35% of all young people we helped lived in the top 20% most deprived areas of the UK. Last year, young people experienced a range of these challenges:

We are especially proud of our reach this year and the ability to adapt, given the significant challenges that many of our young people face and the added nationwide pressures of the pandemic. While at the beginning of 2020, we saw the large majority of programmes and interventions move completely online, the last 12 months have seen the introduction of a blended delivery model, with each programme delivered in the most suitable setting for its specific audience. Through this hybrid approach, we are able to continue widening our reach to young people living in rural areas or those who are unable to leave their homes due to illness or caring responsibilities.

Despite the challenges young people face, 71% of young people on The Prince's Trust programmes moved into positive outcomes last year:

*Please note that percentage totals may differ as one young person can have multiple positive outcomes.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of supporters such as yourself, we have been able to continually reassess our approach and adapt The Trust’s delivery model wherever necessary, so that Delivery Teams across the UK can provide a suitable, relevant and accessible offer to young people in need.

Young People in Buckinghamshire 2021-2022

In Buckinghamshire, during 2021-2022, we supported 54 new participants onto our various programmes. From helping young people on Enterprise start a business to assisting those through our Get Into courses find a job, we were able to help these local young people take their next steps towards a more positive future.

Throughout this report, we want to share a few examples of our successes in the areas of life-skills and employability, as well as showcase the brilliant Get Started with Healthy Living which you funded.

Life Skills - Foundations for Work

We are seeing high rates of poor mental health and well-being among young people who are furthest away from the job market, and therefore more likely to have spent extended periods in relative isolation. The Youth Index report highlights that those who are already facing adversities in life are more likely to have lower levels of confidence and happiness, especially after the pandemic.

With mental health problems so exacerbated during lock-down, we created online well-being courses to help young people suffering from issues like anxiety and isolation. A key part of our provision this year has been our life-skills programmes: vital stepping stones that help young people develop the confidence they need to thrive in the workplace. During 2021-22, we were able to support 9,343 young people onto our Team, Explore or Get Started programmes, encouraging them to try something different, make new friends and discover their confidence and life skills. Of these young people, 64% moved into a positive outcome:

*Please note that percentage totals may differ as one young person can have multiple positive outcomes.

Ben, 23, was struggling with his mental health during A-Levels. He was referred onto our Team programme in Leeds; a 12-week confidence and skills development scheme for young people. Ben was nervous at first, but soon came out of his shell and made lots of new friends. As part of the programme, he completed a work experience placement for Balfour Beatty and was later offered an apprenticeship. Now as one of our Young Ambassadors and Prince's Trust Award winners, Ben reflects on his own mental health in the video above, sharing his top tips for dealing with anxiety and depression.

“It’s almost unbelievable that I’ve gone from not leaving the house two years ago with severe depression to speaking with royalty and being interviewed by CNN!"

Get Started with Healthy Living

In September 2022, we ran a Get Started with Healthy Living programme in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in partnership with the Healthy Living Centre (HLC), a community hub that aims to tackle health and well-being inequalities in local areas. This area is one of the most disadvantaged in the South East of England and the young people joined the programme from a range of different backgrounds.

Five young people took part in the five-day programme, who were local to Aylesbury or High Wycombe. On the course, they received 1:1 support from our Prince's Trust youth workers where they would discuss their mental health, self-development and and the appropriate next steps for them. Over the week, the group were encouraged by HLC staff to reflect on their health and well-being in creative ways such as through gardening workshops, yoga classes and a group sports day. The young people also received a session from the charity Mind where they played mental health Jenga to explore their past, present and future mindsets in an engaging way.

"Everyone communicated their own mental health so well and respected everyone else's reflections. Before the session The group were sceptical to explore their mindsets but they came out with a fresh change of perspective."

- Get Started Youth Worker, Sabrina Ruan

Over the course of a week, the young people took huge strides forwards and towards a diverse range of different future pathways with 80% of the young people going on to a achieve a positive outcome:

"This programme was the first of its kind in Aylesbury - the area is fairly new to The Prince's Trust. However, after this get started, I finally had an Aylesbury referral agency actively reach out and contact me for the first time in my seven years of working at the trust! Hopefully, this is the beginning of many positive steps that we'll have in growing our partnerships in Aylesbury and engaging more young people across buckinghamshire."

- Get Started Youth Worker, Sabrina

Real Lives: Will's Story

Will has a poor relationship with his family and was homeless during this programme, often sofa surfing between friends' houses.

Will approached The Prince's Trust as he wanted help finding a place that he could call home. He also arrived with a passion for Gaming and IT and told us he wanted to attend college to study Coding. Although he initially wanted to join our Get Started in Games Design programme outside of Aylesbury, youth worker Sabrina contacted him to tell him of this brilliant in-person course that was situated in his local area. Will was keen to join so signed up and attended the full-week.

After regular one-to-one meetings with Sabrina and attending various workshops in well-being, Will completed the course and the Healthy Living Centre staff were impressed with how far Will had progressed in just one week.

Since completing this Get Started programme Will went on to receive housing support in addition to having a successful interview with a local college to get back into education. Will has been accepted to study Coding which he started last month. He was also able to receive a laptop through a Prince's Trust Development Award just in time for his college course to begin.

Interview with South East Get Started Manager, Lauren

1. What are often the needs of young people approaching Get Started?

Get Started courses are short engagement programmes for 16-25year-olds which are designed to capture the interest of young people through a specific sector, and reignite their motivation towards training, education and employment. Get Started programmes attract a lot of long-term unemployed young people or those who have fallen out of education but are ready to discover new talents and develop their skills through a week of fun and engaging activities delivered by industry experts. Many young people who arrive on a Get Started often come from challenging backgrounds involving difficult family relations, drug use and crime or for this particular themed programme, the majority had mental health needs that we needed to support.

2. What is it about Healthy Living that makes it a great Get Started theme?

This was the first Health and Wellbeing programme we had run in the Thames Valley area, let alone a Get Started in Aylesbury, so it was a great appeal to young people in the South East wanting to develop new skills and knowledge. We had the fantastic opportunity to work with the Healthy Living Centre, who could provide a broad selection of activities for young people, which could serve as both a vehicle for personal development, as well as one for furthering their life skills and education. Healthy living is an important topic as it helps to tackle health and wellbeing inequalities within a local community in addition to promoting the importance of social cohesion and connection. By actively engaging young people with this theme, we were able to equip them with the tools, habits and knowledge to continue prioritising their physical and mental health beyond this one-week period, helping them feel empowered to make healthier choices in life. We hopefully demonstrated how physical well-being can aid their ability to cope with stress and ultimately strengthen their mental health and assist them in taking that next big step on their personal development journey.

3. What were the challenges you experienced in relation to signing up young people for this programme?

The challenges we experienced were largely centered around the fact that we didn’t have a strong Prince’s Trust presence in Aylesbury. This course was the first direct delivery programme that we had run in the area in some years and as such, we had less connections there. Despite this, at one point we did have 12 young people signed up to the course, however due to the programme's target audience and theme it meant that many of those referrals were highly anxious individuals who did not feel ready to attend the programme at the last minute. Whilst it was a shame we couldn’t impact more young people during this particular course, future recruitment in that area is likely to get easier for programmes further down the line as we now have the contacts and relationships. Additionally, those young people who did attend had a higher quality programme experience, built a close and tight knit support network of peers, and benefitted from more one-to-one support with Youth Development Lead, Sabrina.

4. What did the young people gain from the Get Started with Healthy Living programme?

The young people gained both life skills and personal skills whilst on the programme. The range of activities taught them ways to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy, including sessions on cooking, healthy eating, gardening, exercise, and meditation. By working within a group of young people of similar ages, they were able to connect with each other in person and share their lived experiences through group activities and various conversations about mental health. The young people also received support throughout the week from their Youth Development Lead to help them set goals whilst on the programme and beyond, talking about how their skills are transferrable in the workplace, and how they can continue working on their personal development in the months to come. It was great to see that the majority of these young individuals moved into various positive outcomes after this programme.

5. What is the future for Buckinghamshire and The Prince’s Trust?

We are keen to make sure we continue being there for the young people who need us the most. We are a small but dedicated team in the Thames Valley and would like to ensure that we have a regular presence across all pockets of the area in the future. This programme in particular has enabled us, for the first time, to strengthen our ties and capacity within Buckinghamshire, as well as support hard-to-reach young people there; it is likely this programme was their first encounter with The Trust as it was on their doorstep. Now, we look forward to growing these relationships and utilising referral agencies and delivery partners within Aylesbury and the rest of Buckinghamshire to help us reach and support more local young people build their confidence and reach their full potential.

Our Enterprise Programme 2021-2022

As The Prince's Trust continues to adapt its delivery to suit the needs of young people, Enterprise was one of our first programmes to transition from in-person to online delivery during the pandemic. During 2021-2022, a more blended approach has been adopted, giving over 4,100 new aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to pursue their dreams. The online nature of Enterprise delivery has increased our ability to reach more young people who may have previously not been able to access our programme due to personal barriers, rural isolation, health issues or childcare responsibilities.

Of our Enterprise young people, 85% went on to experience a positive outcome:

*Please note that percentage totals may differ as one young person can have multiple positive outcomes.

Given the immense challenges young people have faced throughout the Covid-19 crisis, the Enterprise programme continues to be one of our most popular courses as many of the young people approaching the course have either been impacted by underemployment, or placed on furlough, using their extra time to begin thinking about running their own business and taking back control of their employment. With thanks to many Enterprise Fellows, we have been able to continue helping this ever-growing pool of aspiring entrepreneurs explore this pathway through our four-day Explore Enterprise course, business mentoring and opportunities to apply for test trading grants and low interest start-up loans.

Our young people have been able to attend masterclasses, specialist workshops and inspirational talks by entrepreneurs, sharing a wealth of expertise on a range of topics. In addition to connecting with speakers and mentors, young people have interacted with likeminded individuals, who are in similar situations, providing them with a network of support during a challenging period. We have adapted our course to meet the needs of the next generation enabling hundreds of entrepreneurs to stay in business during lockdown.

Real Lives: Kayleigh's Story

“When I was in school, The Prince’s Trust came in to do a talk and I vividly remember switching off. I thought there is no point in me listening to this, because I’ll never own my own business. I remind myself of that every time I give talks about my successful food business now, and it makes me so proud!”

Kayleigh Taylor, 27, from Wallsend, left home during her final year of school and moved around a lot, living at friends’ homes and in supported housing. After leaving school, Kayleigh was diagnosed with ADHD and found it difficult to stay in one job for long. That is when she decided to start up her own business. Upon discovering her talent of cooking, Kayleigh used this skill like therapy for herself after a long day at work. In 2020, Kayleigh set up Klee’s Kitchen, a healthy meal prep delivery service which takes away the hassle of cooking, food shopping and washing up for people with busy lives. She got to a point where she wanted to leave her job and concentrate on the business full-time, so she turned to The Prince’s Trust’s Enterprise programme for support.

“Because of my ADHD, I’m not always good at planning ahead, so I needed the course to give me some structure. My Prince’s Trust business mentor, Brian, helped me with tax, registering my business, and accounting. It was massive to me to have people believe in me.”

Now, Kayleigh has moved Klee’s Kitchen into a permanent premise in Gateshead and employs four delivery drivers, two full-time apprentices and one full-time member of staff. Klee’s kitchen has launched a Sunday Lunch service, and Kayleigh is also currently looking at opening a takeaway that serves Afro-Caribbean soul food.

“Being my own boss lets me come up with new ideas while keeping to my focus of making tasty and healthy food. This business is definitely the longest I've stuck at anything.”

In addition to now volunteering as a guest speaker on the Enterprise course, Kayleigh recently won our Prince’s Trust NatWest Enterprise Award for England 2022. Please click on the video to listen to Kayleigh’s incredible journey.

The Prince's Trust's Strategy 2021-2025

The Prince’s Trust has launched its new strategy for 2021-2025, which lays out the direction we want to go in. We plan to give more young people the opportunity to create a better future through employment, education and enterprise. We will help those facing the greatest adversity onto a pathway to employment, while strengthening our network of opportunity and support for young people to give them the best chance of success in years to come.

Our Vision – Every young person should have the chance to succeed.

Our Mission – To help young people transform their lives by developing the confidence and skills to live, learn and earn.

Our Ambition - Our ambition over the next five years is to give more disadvantaged young people the opportunity to create a better future through employment, education and enterprise.

Our three strategic aims:

  1. Be there for young people today and maximise our impact.
  2. Strengthen our Prince’s Trust support network for young people.
  3. Build for a better future for young people.

The Prince's Trust's EDI Strategy 2021-2023

Underpinning all our work is our ambition for The Prince’s Trust to be one of the UK’s most equal, diverse and inclusive organisations serving young people.

We believe that every young person deserves the chance to succeed, regardless of their background or identity.

We recognise the diversity of the communities we serve and how vital it is to build strong relationships with them and listen to their needs. We understand that this is crucial to reach the young people who need us the most and to give them the best experience in working with us.

We are committed to building a workforce that is as diverse as the communities and young people we serve, where colleagues feel able to bring their whole selves to work to achieve their best.

We pledge to celebrate diversity and inclusion within our work and across the organisation, and we will continuously educate ourselves and strive for equality. We are committed to positive action and change.

THANK YOU, MIKE CLARE AND THE CLARE FOUNDATION

We hope you have enjoyed reading about the continued impact of your generosity on young people. Your support has enabled various young people to come through our Get Started programme, some from the most challenging of backgrounds, and raise their aspirations in life, putting themselves on the path to a more positive future. This will extend far beyond the individual young person, with their families, schools and communities able to benefit from their brighter outlook in life. In light of the pandemic and Cost of Living crisis, your donation came at a critical time and in doing so has transformed the prospects of young people during their darkest moments. On behalf of everyone at The Prince’s Trust, a very heartfelt thank you for your support.