The Elmbridge and Runnymede Youth Hub celebrates its 100th business pledge

The Hub, which launched in October 2021, was developed in partnership with Brooklands College and is funded by both councils and the Department for Work and Pensions and has now helped over 280 18-24 year olds with access to work experience, mentoring, CV guidance, interview technique advice and wellbeing support.
 
The business pledge of support for the Youth Hub is central to its offer to help young people back into employment and training with over 70% of customers going into traineeships, placements, apprenticeships, mentorships or sector based work academies. 
 
The latest pledges of support have come from Your Energy Way who are offering Youth Hub Clients with an interest in STEM (Science, technology engineering and maths) employment opportunities in green industries with a focus on sustainable heat pumps and solar panelling and The Time to Change project which supports voluntary organisations across Surrey to build up the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become more effective in recruiting and managing young volunteers, aged 19-25.

Cllr Tom Gracey, Leader of Runnymede Borough Council said:

It’s great to see more businesses pledge to support the Youth Hub. The partnership between business, the college and the local authorities has been crucial to the hubs success in linking young people with the right opportunities for them locally.

Cllr Robin Stephens, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Enterprise and the Local Economy at Elmbridge Borough Council said:

The Youth Hub success is so much more than just careers advice. It’s great to see the results come through with young people taking up apprenticeships, placements or heading back into education.

Christine Ricketts, Principal of Brooklands College said:

One of the strengths of the Youth Hub has been its employer engagement – the traineeships, placements and apprenticeships give real world experience that will leave young people ready to take the next steps in their career.

Gemma Newar, Job Centre Plus, Partnership Manager said:

The Youth Hub continues to deliver results for young people across the area. We welcomed the chance to visit the Youth Hub team last week and hear the latest update on how the College and businesses are coming together with support and help to provide new opportunities for our Job Centre clients.

Case study – business link up

A young person was referred into the hub after seeing the hubs promotional material at a local library. She has a passion for the creative industries having completed a Level 3 Creative Media Production course. She struggled to find valuable work experience where she would feel confident applying for roles.

 The hub team got to work to support her with a one-to-one meeting to understand her story and aspirations and a bespoke action plan to help her take the next steps to her dream career. In order to build her portfolio and experience base to help future applications, the hub has connected her with an opportunity to help create promotional material for one of our network of businesses and partners, arranged work experience and offered the opportunity to build her connections and confidence at events. With the help to expand her CV and portfolio of work, the hub support helped the young person secure a new role and move into employment.
 
Any young person aged 18-24 who lives in Elmbridge or Runnymede can find out more about the available free support and get in touch with the Youth Hub